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Together
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NOVEMBER 1972
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WHAT HOPE FOR THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL?
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AUTUMN
By /Audrey 8. Murdock
See how the morning-glory sky spreads blue
Its tented canopy above my head.
In all Cod's heaven, is there such a view
As deep and breathlessly serene? I tread
Among the angels. How complete this day!
Before my eyes, Fall's crystal spectacles
Minutely magnify the ant's slow way,
Beckoning leaves, and hillside miracles.
Upon the still, blood-warm, and curving earth,
I press my face and smell her, redolent
With leaf-dust, and the russet smile of mirth
That is but Autumn's warms the firmament.
I see this pristine beauty through the land,
And curl ecstatically within God's hand.
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WHAT HOrl IO» THI AMUICAH C«IM(NAU
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"One of the criminals who were
hanged railed at him, saying, Are
you not the Christ? Save yourself and
us!' But the other rebuked him, saying,
Do you not fear God, since you are
under the same sentence of condemna-
tion? And we indeed justly; for we
are receiving the due reward of our
deeds; but this man has done nothing
wrong.' And he said: 'Jesus, remember
me when you come to your kingly
power.' And he [Jesus] said to him.
Truly, I say to you, today you will be
with me in Paradise.' " (Luke 23:39-
43.) Our cover this month, designed
by Art Editor Robert Goss, depicts a
present-day criminal in prison garb,
suffering on his own figurative cross.
A major emphasis theme of this issue
is prisons, prisoners, and law enforce-
ment. [See pages 20-32.]
TOGETHER NOVEMBER, 1972
Vol. XVI. No. 10 Copyright © 1972
by The United Methodist Publishing House
Editorial Office: 1661 N. Northwest Hwy., Park
Ridge, III. 60068. Phone (Area 312) 299-4411.
Business, Subscription, and Advertising Offices:
201 Eighth Avenue, South, Nashville, Tenn.
37202. Phones: Advertising — [Area 615) 749-
6141, Business and Subscriptions — (Area 615)
749-6405 and 749-6406.
TOGETHER is published monthly except combined
issue of August and September by The United
Methodist Publishing House at 201 Eighth Ave-
nue South, Nashville, Tenn. 37202, where
second-class postage has been paid. Subscription:
$5 a year in advance, single copy 50c
TOGETHER CHURCH PLAN subscriptions through
United Methodist churches are $4 per year, cash
in advance, or $1 per quarter, billed quarterly.
Change of Address: Five weeks advance notice is
required. Send old and new addresses and label
from current issue to Subscription Office. Adver-
tising: Write Advertising Office for rates. Editorial
Submissions: Address all correspondence to Edi-
torial Office, 1661 N. Northwest Hwy., Park
Ridge, III. 60068, and enclose postage for re-
turn of materials.
TOGETHER assumes no responsibility for damage
to or loss of unsolicited manuscripts, art, photo-
graphs.
TOGETHER is an official general periodical of
The United Methodist Church and continues
CHURCH AND HOME, the family periodical of
the former Evangelical United Brethren Church.
Because of freedom given authors, opinions may
not reflect official concurrence. The contents of
each issue are indexed in the UNITED METHODIST
PERIODICAL INDEX.
Postmaster: Send Form 3579 to TOGETHER, 201
Eighth Avenue, South, Nashville, Tenn. 37202.
IN THIS ISSUE
Autumn . . . Audrey B. Murdock
Second Cover Color Pictorial
2 Seven Days of Creation
Co/or Pictorial
6 Weighing the Issues of Campaign '72
14 Should Worship Be a Family Affair?
Powwow — Chester E. Hodgson and James F. White
17 Is Anyone There?
Margaret Haun
20 What Hope for the American Criminal?
Martha A. Lane and John A. Lovelace
21 For Prisoners, the Outside Is a World Away
Frank Earl Andrews and Glenn D. Mann
24 Penologist Identifies Dramatic Changes
Myrl E. Alexander
26 Essential Ministries of Writing, Visiting
William G. Johnson
27 Citizen Involvement: A Sampler of Successes
Martha A. Lane
29 Beat Cop
People Called Methodists
33 Parent to the Prodigal
C. King Duncan, Jr.
35 To George, Who Canceled His Pledge
William H. Hud nut, Jr.
37 The Case of the Kinetic Dollar Bill
Wheaton P. Webb
42 A Wonderful Moment to Share
Stanley Medders
49 Round
Virginia Scott Miner
REGULAR FEATURES
10 News
19 Say It!
38 Letters
39 Illustration Credits
40 You Asked . . .
45 Kaleidoscope . . . Helen Johnson
48 Jottings
November 1972 TOGETHER
I
The Seven Days
o
f
Creation
As generations of artists
have learned, the epic scope and
wonder of the biblical story
of creation defies literal
interpretation. Realizing this,
an Australian artist adopted
symbolism and color to produce
nonfigurative designs in
tapestries of unusual warmth,
richness, and beauty.
John Coburn's Seven Days of
Creation, woven from Australian
wool and measuring around 7 by
6 feet each, were recently
presented to the John Kennedy
Center, Washington, D.C.,
by the Australian government.
Mr. Coburn, whose work is
hailed in many parts of the world,
also has designed curtains for
Australia's new $95 million Opera
House complex in Sydney.
On the first day
the Sprit of God hrooded
over the waters.
November 1972 TOGETHER
_
On the
second day
God
separated the
light from
the dark.
On the
third day
God
created
the earth.
Novwnh ■ mmi k ^
On the fourth day
God created the sun
and the moon and
the stars.
On the fifth day
God created the fish
of the sea, the hirds of
the air, and the leasts
of the dry land.
4 November 1972 TOGETHER
n the sixth day
od created man.
On the
seventh day
God
rested.
N.^. mhn 1972 It n.Mlll K r,
Platforms and Policies
i iriojiyr tor iooi in
United Methodists represent a cross section of political
viewpoints — Republican, Democratic, independent, and
so forth. Together endorses no political party or candi-
date, but does encourage each voter to make a thorough
study of the issues in the campaign.
For a somewhat different view of the 1972 political
scene, Together'?, Associate Editor Patricia Afzal has com-
piled this comparative chart. It includes excerpts from
nun
the Democratic and Republican Party Platforms in paral-
lel columns together with corresponding subjects from
the new Statement of Social Principles and the policy
resolutions of the General Conference of The United
Methodist Church. Voters should also take note of the
advice John Wesley gave his followers in a 1747 essay
on Christian citizenship. He said: "Act as if the whole
election depended upon your single vote."
Democratic Party
Viet Nam War
Immediate and complete with-
drawal of all U.S. military forces in
Indochina and an end to all U.S.
military action in southeast Asia.
"Humanitarian assistance" to war
victims. Insistence on the release of
all U.S. POWs in any war resolution.
Amnesty
When the fighting ceases and
our troops and POWs have returned,
amnesty for those who conscientious-
ly refused to serve in the war and
were prosecuted or sought refuge
abroad.
Foreign Policy
Reestablish the United Nations as
a key forum for international activity.
Abide by the UN Security Council
decision on Rhodesia sanctions.
Establish regular diplomatic relations
with Mainland China. Cease Ameri-
can support for Greece and Portugal;
sharply reduce military assistance in
Latin America; oppose "racial totali-
tarianism" of South Africa; pursue
with Soviet Russia mutual force
reductions in Europe; adhere to
liberal trade policies, but oppose
those which harm American workers;
relieve the hardship of workers in-
jured by foreign competition; pro-
mote export of American farm
products.
General Conference
Viet Nam War
Urges Congress to cease immedi-
ately the bombing in Indochina, with-
draw all U.S. troops no later than
December 31, 1972, cut off funds for
military activity in Viet Nam, and
pay reparations to war victims. Plead
for release of all POWs by same date.
Amnesty
Because of limited time for de-
bate, the 1972 General Conference
accepted for study two opposing
views on amnesty, but included sup-
port for whatever conscientious
choice youth make in Social Princi-
ples' section on military service.
Foreign Policy
For peace with justice utilize the
United Nations and the International
Court of Justice. Disarmament agree-
ments within the framework of the
UN. Discourage the church from in-
vesting in those U.S. companies
which invest in southern Africa; seek
from these companies the facts of
their involvement and ask that they
be made public. Urge any income
from the church's investment in cor-
porations which invest in southern
Africa or an equivalent amount be
given to an enlarged Board of Mis-
sions Southern Africa Fund. Urge
corporations to adopt fair-employ-
ment policies as they are required to
do in the United States.
Republican Party
Viet Nam War
Withdraw U.S. forces from Viet
Nam four months after all U.S.
prisoners are released and after an
internationally supervised cease-fire
has gone into effect. Seek a settle-
ment which permits south Asian peo-
ple to determine their political future.
Amnesty
Reject all proposals to grant am-
nesty to those who evaded military
service. Support an all-volunteer
armed force. Recognize the uncer-
tainties the draft poses for the youth
of America.
Foreign Policy
Continue to negotiate with ad-
versaries to improve security and
cooperation and reduce tension.
Encourage increased trade benefiting
consumers, businessmen, workers,
farmers, and expansion of contacts
with Mainland China. Support Israel-
aid in bringing Israel and the Arab
states to the conference table. Main-
tain tactical forces in Europe and the
Mediterranean. Regard Cuba as in-
eligible for readmission to the "com-
munity of American states." Approve
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
agreements. Reject proposals to de-
crease defense forces. Endorse North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.
November 1972 TOGETHER
F CnMPHlEN
Democratic Party
Taxes
Reform tax structure to distribute
the cost of government "more fairly";
close "unjustified" tax loopholes and
remove all "unfair" corporate and
individual tax preferences; reduce the
local property tax by equalizing
school spending and by substantial
increases in the federal share of edu-
cation costs and revenue sharing.
Business
Eliminate wage and price con-
trols. Step up antitrust action to help
competition. Deconcentrate shared
monopolies. Stiffen civil and criminal
statutes to make corporate officers
responsible for their actions. Abolish
the oil-import quotas.
Labor
Continued support for free col-
lective bargaining. Repeal of section
in National Labor Relations Act which
allows states to legislate the open
shop. Universal coverage and longer
duration of the Unemployment In-
surance and Workmen's Compensa-
tion programs. Move to minimum
wage of $2.50 per hour, and expand
coverage of the Fair Labor Standards
Act to "include the 16 million
workers" not covered now.
General Conference
Taxes
Support for measures which
would reduce the concentration of
wealth in the hands of a few. Support
for efforts to revise tax structures and
eliminate governmental programs
that now benefit the wealthy at the
expense of other persons.
Business
Support efforts to ensure truth
in pricing, packaging, lending, and
advertising. Manufacturers serve
society best when they aid consumers
by offering needed goods and services
of high quality at the lowest cost
consistent with economic practices.
Labor
Recognition and support for the
right of workers to organize and bar-
gain collectively over wages, hours,
and conditions of labor. Request Con-
gress to amend the National Labor
Relations Act to include in its cover-
age government employees (federal,
state, and local) and employees of
hospitals operated entirely on a non-
profit basis.
Republican Party
Taxes
System needs continual reform.
Pledge to pursue such policies as
revenue sharing to allow property-tax
relief, and further tax reform to en-
sure that the tax burden is fairly
shared. Reject tax reforms which
would raise the taxes of millions of
middle-income Americans.
Business
Removal of wage and price con-
trols when the economic distortions
are repaired. Affirm support for the
basic principles of capitalism and
assert that nothing has done more
to help Americans achieve their
standard of living than the free enter-
prise system.
Labor
Salute labor union movement.
Support collective bargaining. Con-
tinue to develop procedures whereby
labor and management can more
effectively seek solutions for struc-
tural adjustment and productivity.
Continue to search for solutions to
emergency labor disputes which pro-
tect the welfare of American people
and restrict government interference
in collective bargaining.
Welfare
Replace present welfare system
with an income-security program. Full
employment policy which assures
every American a job at a fair wage.
Make the Social Security tax progres-
sive by raising substantially the ceiling
on earned income.
Education
Increase federal financial aid for
elementary and secondary education.
Step up efforts to meet special needs
and costs of educationally disadvan-
taged children.
Welfare
A national program of income
maintenance and a full employment
policy are needed with public and
private welfare programs which pro-
vide physical necessities for all who
need them, respect dignity of peo-
ple, and encourage economic inde-
pendence.
Education
Support the development of
school systems and innovative meth-
ods of education designed to assist
each child, ethnic minority member,
and retarded or handicapped persons
toward full humanity.
Welfare
The nation's system must be
reformed. Pledge to stop abuses of
the welfare system. Flatly oppose
policies of government-guaranteed
income. Push for sound welfare re-
form until helpful change is enacted
into law by Congress.
Education
Favor the neighborhood school
concept. Support channeling public
financial aid to support the educa
tion of all children in schools of their
parents' choice by such means u
income-tax credits.
(Continued on pages 8 and 9)
November 1972 TOC.tTHFR
TWO GREAT
1973
UNITED
METHODIST
TOURS!
CARIBBEAN CRUISE TOUR
FEBRUARY 4 to 21
Together let's escape from winter using stream-
lined AMTRAK train down the east coast to
Jacksonville — then visit old St. Augustine, Cape
Kennedy Space Center, Cypress Gardens and the
new Walt Disney World! PLUS — 12 pleasant and
relaxing days cruising the Sunny Caribbean on
a truly palatial, luxury liner, with all shore
excursions, meals and tips included. Start with
us from New York City, Philadelphia, Wash-
ington, or join in Florida!
PORTS — OF — CALL
• Curacao • Grenada # Martinique
• Venezuela • Barbados • St. Maarten
• St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.
Personal Leadership: Rev. Merrill S. Tope
EUROPE BY SHIP TOUR
MAY 31 to JULY 11
Together we will repeat our most successful 1970
Methodist trip to the heartland of Western Europe
in late Spring — traveling both ways across the
Atlantic by steamship! Enjoy the finest weather
conditions, during the uncrowded period — a no-
rush, comprehensive 8-country visit geared to
Methodist tastes and preferences. Capital cities
and countryside vistas, time for shopping, history
and outstanding varied scenery.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES IN
• England • Germany • Italy
• Holland • Switzerland • France
• Belgium • Austria
Experienced Leader: Dr. Woodrow A. Geier
Both tours have been especially prepared and are
offered exclusively for TOGETHER readers and
their friends! Planned at the perfect times of the
year for their respective areas, these tours are
100% escorted — all expense! They offer the finest
in travel and transportation, each with a "limited"
size, congenial tour party with outstanding Meth-
odist spiritual leadership and management.
For Your FREE. Descriptive Folders On These
Two 1973 United Methodist Tours, Please
Print, Clip and Mail Today To:
UNITED METHODIST TOUR DIVISION
Wayfarer Croup Travel, Inc.
2200 Victory Parkway
Cincinnati, Ohio 45206
□ 7th Annual Caribbean Cruise Tour
□ Europe-by-Ship Tour
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY & STATE
ZIP
Democratic Party
Bussing
Must continue to be available
according to U.S. Supreme Court
decisions. Support the goal of de-
segregation as a means to achieve
equal access to quality education for
all our children.
Civil Rights
End to the "pattern of political
persecution and investigation." End
to wiretapping and electronic surveil-
lance. Commitment to uphold the
rights of women, children, the men-
tally retarded and ill, Indians, elderly,
and poor. Recognition of welfare-
rights groups and their right to repre-
sent welfare recipients.
Health Care
Establish a system of universal
national health insurance to be
federally financed and administered.
Family-planning services should be
available to all on a noncoercive,
nondiscriminatory basis.
Crime
Protection for all without under-
mining fundamental liberties. Cease
using "law and order" as justification
for repression. A national effort
against the usage of drugs and addic-
tion; recognition of addiction as a
health problem. A ban on handguns
known as "Saturday-night specials."
Revision of sentencing procedures
and greater use of community-based
rehabilitation facilities.
Housing
Completely overhaul the Federal
Housing Administration "to make it
consumer-oriented." Provide low-in-
terest loans to finance the construc-
tion and purchase of decent housing.
Promote free choice in housing
through grants, diversified housing in
new communities, and enforcement
of fair-housing laws.
Environment
Strict standards and prosecution
to prevent pollution by private and
public projects. Where appropriate,
taxes need to be levied on pollution
to give industry incentive to clean up.
General Conference
Bussing
Support the use of bussing
where appropriate for school integra-
tion and oppose legislative action or
constitutional amendments prohibit-
ing such bussing.
Civil Rights
Request Congress to prohibit
any branch of the military to engage
in surveillance of and data collection
on U.S. civilians; oppose the use of
wiretapping, and so forth, without
court order; eliminate "no knock"
entry provisions from crime bills.
Recognize rights of women, ethnics,
children, the handicapped, and the
elderly.
Health Care
Urge equal access to the best
available health care and personnel
for all persons; comprehensive health
care; national health standards at
regional, state, and community levels.
Challenge the church to contribute to
mental health and healing.
Crime
Support for creative changes in
penal policy and practice, greater
financial investment in rehabilitation
and de-emphasis upon punishment
and custody, establishment and as-
surance of separate juvenile and adult
detention facilities, careful selection
and training of corrections personnel.
Endorse elimination of private owner-
ship and use of handguns, except in
extremely limited instances.
Housing
Housing for low-income persons
should be given top priority as a
national goal. Urge increased support
for rent supplements, home owner-
ship programs, and Model Cities pro-
grams. Urge Congress to require
minimum and maximum levels of low
and moderate-income housing in
suburbs, new communities, and
large scale developments.
Environment
Call to all society to curb exces-
sive and unnecessary use and abuse
of the earth's resources; to appropri-
ately conservative uses of land, water,
forests, and wildlife; and to respon-
sible life-styles and stewardship on
"spaceship earth."
November 1972 TOGETHER
Republican Party
Bussing
Oppose bussing for racial bal-
ance; regard it as unnecessary, coun-
terproductive and wrong. Committed
to equality of educational oppor-
tunity and an end to de jure school
segregation.
Civil Rights
Defend the citizen's right to pri-
vacy. Oppose computerized national
data banks. Voluntary prayer should
be permitted in public places, pro-
vided that it is not prescribed by the
state and that no person's participa-
tion is coerced. Preserve the tradi-
tional separation of church and state.
Health Care
Goal of quality health care at a
reasonable cost to every American.
Support comprehensive health-insur-
ance coverage financed by employers,
employees, and the federal govern-
ment. Oppose nationalized compul-
sory health insurance.
Crime
Pledge a "tireless campaign"
against crime. Support local police,
reform the Federal Criminal Code.
Accelerate drive against organized
crime, increase funding of the federal
judiciary, support prison reform and
rehabilitation concept, make efforts
to prevent criminal access to all
weapons, support citizen's right to
bear firearms and use them for
legitimate purposes.
Housing
Oppose the use of housing
development programs to impose
arbitrary housing patterns on un-
willing communities Belief in pro-
viding communities incentives to
increase the quality and quantity oi
housing in conjunction with provid-
ing increased access to jobs for their
low-income citizens.
Environment
Pledge a workable balance be-
tween a growing economy and
environmental protection. Implement
comprehensive pollution laws and
research into pollution-control prob-
lems. □
enney
retirement
community
Golf
Bowling
Shuffleboard
• Gardening
• Arts
• Crafts
• Cultural &
Religious Activities
ft
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jj_3V° Advertising contributed
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OCI Mil K
CHURCH 'MANAGERS'
UNDERGO TRAINING
TO BECOME 'LEADERS'
MEALS PAID FOR,
STILL SOME PASTORS
DO WITHOUT
FLOOD RELIEF TO
THREE CONFERENCES
scout handbook
rev:::' : : 7 :;:
on reverence
MEWS
A kindly critic named Tom 3ennett III led United Methodism's
"managers"-- i ts oishops, district superintendents, and annual
conference program di rectors — through intense training to become
"leaders" Sept. 22-2*» in Cleveland, Ohio. The entire venture
was a sharp reversal from the old effort to "sell the program."
Dr. Bennett, a management consultant and program designer long
acquainted with United Methodism, plied the nearly 1,000
leaders, including general board and agency staff, with term
definitions and organizational analysis. By preassigned seating,
bishops were enabled to work with bishops, district superintendents
with district superintendents, and so on in problem solving.
One exercise forced the participants to go through one typical
district superintendent's "in-basket." In only 90 minutes they
were supposed to deal with actua 1 -but-anonymous cases ranging
from a pastor's distraught wife to an enraged prominent financial
backer to an invitation to a church music festival.
Even the innovative daily worship services were geared to the
theme, Learn ing to Lead . General staff people were available in
evening sessions as resource persons.
For one whole day the bishops met with their cabinets to test
their new Bennett-led understandings of such terms as planning,
problem solving, leadership, headship, collaboration, cooperation,
power, and authority. Since 29 of the church's 45 episcopal
areas have bishops new to them, the upheaval in application
could be monumental .--John A. Lovelace
All United Methodist ministers paid for the lunch served one
day at the pastors' school near Valley City, N . Dak . But k%
had nothing to eat! Only 6% got meat, potatoes, vegetables,
and dessert. Twenty percent dined on sotip and bread, and
70% ate bread alone. This taste of poverty demonstrated
poverty in the world where the majority barely gets by and
k% have nothing.
Three conferences hit hardest by June f loods--Centra 1
Pennsylvania, Wyoming, and Central New York--recei ved grants
of $50,000 each from United Methodism's National Disaster
Fund. Distributed under United Methodist Committee on Relief
guidelines, funds must be used first to meet human needs and
then for property repairs. They are to be used ecumenically
where possible. Specific use will be determined by conference
flood relief committees and will include such programs as
"meals on wheels" and ecumenical counseling as well as
supplementing volunteer efforts. Reported United Methodist
loss and damage totaled $4,31 3,000 . Representatives from
flood-affected areas with less damage agreed that they would
meet immediate needs from local and conference funds and that
grants should go to the three hardest hit conferences.
The new Scout Handbook , first major revision of the manual
since 1911, includes this interpretation of the 12th point of
the Scout Law: "A Scout is reverent. Reverence toward God is
a whole lot more than going to church. It is shown in the way
you act everyday."
10
November 197.' TOGETHER
NORTH CAROLINA
WEIGHS TAXATION
OF CHURCH PROPERTY
WOMEN CRITICIZE
POPE'S RULING
ON MINISTRY
TITHING FAVORED,
BROADLY INTERPRETED
AMONG PRESBYTERIANS
GLOBAL MINISTRIES
BOARD ORGANIZES
Should church-owned property not used for worship or religious
education be tax exempt? A special study commission created by
the North Carolina legislature is expected to say "no" when it
reports to the 1973 session. The commission is also considering
tax-exempt property owned by schools, hospitals, and government
agencies and reportedly has suggested removal of exemptions from
parsonages and ministers' homes, since they are not used strictly
for religious purposes. Possibly affected by the commission's
recommendations will be religious conference centers--such as
United Methodism's Lake Junal uska--wi th their recreational
facilities in mountain areas.
^ The Rev. Philip A. Potter, West Indian Methodist, will take
office Nov. 1 as general secretary of the World Council of
Churches. He was elected in late summer by the WCC Central
Committee to succeed American United Presbyterian Dr. Eugene
Carson Blake. Several United Methodists from the United States
participated in WCC debate on ecumenism, social impact of
financial investments, and the WCC's controversial anti racism
program focusing on Africa. Dr. Potter pledged his full support
of that program. The 51-year-old WCC staff veteran is the son
of a Protestant mother and a Roman Catholic father.
"It saddens me that a leader of such renown as the Pope should
act in such a misguided male chauvinist way." That was the
reaction of Theressa hoover, staff head of United Methodism's
Women's Division, to the Pope's barring women from even the
smallest formal role in the Roman Catholic ministry. Miss
Hoover added that she sees the action as lamentable, particularly
because Protestant denominations and ecumenical agencies were
beginning to see "the errors of their ways" in past treatment of
women. She said that the papal decree does not bode well "for
younger women interested in full-time service in the Catholic
Church." Other American women's church leaders labeled the Pope's
action variously as "a tragedy" and "a sad reversal of what many
hoped was a trend."
Agree or disagree: God does not expect tithing of all believers.
A recent survey by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. revealed
that 21% of Al6 respondents accepted that statement as true.
About 75%, however, supported the practice of tithing and believe
children should be taught to tithe beginning with their first
allowance. The vast majority of Southern Presbyterians broadly
define tithing to include contributions to community centers,
United Fund, Salvation Army, and overseas relief. Respondents
saw two main factors affecting current giving: lower priority
for the church in people's lives and spending habits and
"disapproval of denominational policies."
The largest of United Methodism's four program boards, the
Board of Global Ministries, elected Bishop Paul A. Washburn of
Chicago as its president and nominated as staff head the Rev.
Tracey K. Jones, Jr., general secretary of the former Board of
Missions. Elected respectively as board vice-presidents to head
the divisions, and as associate general secretaries for the
divisions were Mrs. C. Clifford Cummings, Miss Theressa Hoover,
Women's Division; Bishop Jack M. Tuell, the Rev. Randolph W.
Nugent, Jr., National Division; Bishop L. Scott Allen, the Rev.
John F. Schaefer, World Division; Mrs. Henry L. Georg, Roger
Burgess, Health and Welfare Ministries; Bishop James K. Mathews,
the Rev. Robert W. Huston, Ecumenical and Interre 1 ig ious Concerns;
the Rev. H. Claude Young, Lois Miller, Education and Cultivation;
and Bishop D. Frederick Wertz, the Rev. J. Harry Haines, United
Methodist Committee on Relief. The other three program boards
scheduled organizational meetings in October.
Novembti 1972 h».i nil k
1 I
Pakistan nationalizes
church co' ' eges
A GOOD MONTH
INTERFAITH COMMITTEE
OFFERS GUIDES
FOR SOCIAL IMPACT
OF INVESTMENTS
ALL AFRICAN BISHOPS
NOW LEADING
UNITED METHODISTS
UNITED METHODISTS
IN THE NEWS
At least 8 Christian colleges, including 2 United Methodist
related schools, are among 172 private colleges recently
nationalized by the government of Pakistan under a martial law
act. Forman Christian College and Kinnaird College in Lahore
are related to the Board of Global Ministries' World Division.
Only schools in the states of Punjab and Sind were affected, but
takeovers are expected to lead to state control of all elementary,
secondary, and college institutions over the next two years.
Several Protestants vigorously opposed the nationalization and
school openings were delayed until October.
August was a good month for the World Service fund, according
to a report by United Methodist treasurer R. Bryan Brawner. In
a dramatic reversal in trends World Service receipts for that
month ($1,452,530.46) were up 38.51% over the same period in 1971.
A new source of guides is the Interfaith Committee on Social
Responsibility in Investments. Work was formerly carried on by
ad hoc coalition of church leaders. Seed money and personnel
includes United Methodists, most prominently Women ' s Division
treasurer Florence Little as committee chairwoman. Committee's
work will supplement Corporate Information Center of National
Council of Churches: Center provides basic research, committee
coordinates education and action.
For the first time United Methodists in the Africa Central
Conference have nothing but native Africans as bishops. This
resulted from the conference's late-summer meeting at which two
bishops, Bishop John Wesley Shungu and Bishop Harry P. Andreassen,
were defeated for reelection. Elected as their replacements were
Bishop Emilio de Carvalho of Angola and Bishop Fama Onema of
Zaire. Reelected were Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa of Rhodesia and
Bishop Escrivao Zunguze of Mozambique. With the replacement of
Bishop Andreassen, who was expected to return to his native
Norway, it is believed that there now is no major overseas church
linked to United Methodism through its Central Conferences that
has a non-national bishop. Central Conferences may elect bishops
for four-year terms rather than for life as in the United States.
The Central Illinois Conference believes it had the youngest
United Methodist voting this year in an annual conference.
V. Eu gene Ram sey I I was' 15 years, 7 months old when conference
convened. .. .One millionth visitor to The Upper Room Chapel in
Nashville, Tenn . , was Robert E. Christmas fromAshford, Ala....
Recipients of 1972 Gold Medal Awards presented by Philadelphia's
Old St. George's Church included Bishop James Ault , new leader
of the Philadelphia Area, and Harry G. Fox , lifelong Methodist
who is deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department
....Among clergy who gave prayers at the Republican National
Convention was the Rev. M. C. Mathison , pastor of First Church
in Panama City, Fla. .. .Bishop Marvi n A. Frank 1 in , 78, retired
head of the Jackson Area, died August 23... .New Miss American
Teen-ager is 17~year-old Carla Lynn Tevault , member of Petersburg
(Ind.) Church and a freshman at Indiana Uni vers i ty. . . . W. A. Pounds
recently completed 50 years as treasurer of the Texas Conference
....Resigning as president of United Methodist-related Emory and
Henry College, Bristol, Va. , is the Rev. C. Gle nn Mi ngledorf f . . . .
Recipient of the Legion of Merit for 10 years service as chaplain
is the Rev. James Roy Smi th , pastor, Mt. Olivet Church, Arlington,
Va. , and third Army Reserve chaplain to receive the award.... A
United Methodist minister and mother of three children, Mrs.
Mary Anne Morefield is intern pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church
in Harrisburg, Pa . . . .Of f icers of the new quadrennial Commission
on the Status and Role of Women are Barbara Thompson, president,
and Jeanne Audrey Powers, secretary.
12
November 1972 TOGETHER
ft
The answers to some
questions frequently asked
by our sponsors
If you are considering sponsoring a child
through the Christian Children's Fund,
certain questions may occur to you. Perhaps
you will find them answered here.
Q. What does it cost to sponsor a child? A. Only $12 per
month. (Your gifts are tax deductible.)
Q. May I choose the child I wish to help? A. You may indicate
your preference of boy or girl, age, and country. Many spon-
sors allow us to select a child from our emergency list.
Q. Will I receive a photograph of my child ? A. Yes, and with
the photograph will come a case history plus a description of
the Home or Project where your child receives help.
Q. How long does it take before I learn about the child assigned
to me? A. You will receive your personal sponsor folder in
about two weeks, giving you complete information about the
child you will be helping.
Q. May I write to my child? A. Yes. In fact, your child will
write to you a few weeks after you become a sponsor. Your
letters are translated by one of our workers overseas. You re-
ceive your child's original letter, plus an English translation,
direct from the home or project overseas.
Q. What help does the child receive from my support? A. In
countries of great poverty, such as India, your gifts provide
total support for a child. In other countries your sponsorship
gives the children benefits that otherwise they would not
receive, such as diet supplements, medical care, adequate
clothing, school supplies.
Q. What type of projects does CCF support overseas? A. Be-
sides the orphanages and Family Helper Projects CCF has
homes for the blind, abandoned babies homes, day care nur-
series, health homes, vocational training centers, and many
other types of projects.
Q. Who supervises the work overseas? A. Regional offices are
staffed with both Americans and nationals. Caseworkers,
orphanage superintendents, housemothers, and other person-
nel must meet high professional standards — plus have a deep
love for children.
Q. Is CCF independent or church operated? A. Independent.
CCF is incorporated as a nonprofit organization. We work
closely with missionaries of 41 denominations. No child is
refused entrance to a Home because of creed or race.
Q. When was CCF started, and how large is it now? A. 1938
was the beginning, with one orphanage in China. Today, over
100,000 children are being assisted in 55 countries. However,
we are not interested in being "big." Rather, our job is to be
a bridge between the American sponsor, and the child being
helped overseas.
Q. May I visit my child? A. Yes. Our Homes around the
world are delighted to have sponsors visit them. Please inform
the superintendent in advance of your scheduled arrival.
Q. May groups sponsor a child ? A. Yes, church classes, office
workers, civic clubs, schools and other groups. We ask that
one person serve as correspondent for a group.
Q. Are all the children orphans? A. No. Although many of
our children are orphans, youngsters are helped primarily on
the basis of need. Some have one living parent unable to care
for the child properly. Others come to us because of abandon-
ment, broken homes, parents unwilling to assume responsi-
bility, or serious illness of one or both parents.
Q. How can I be sure that the money I give actually reaches the
child ? A. CCF keeps close check on all children through field
offices, supervisors and caseworkers. Homes and Projects are
inspected by our staff. Each home is required to submit an
annual audited statement.
Margaret was found in a back lane of Calcutta, lying in her
doorway, unconscious from hunger. Inside, her mother had
just died in childbirth.
You can see from the expression on Margaret's face that
she doesn't understand why her mother can't get up. or why
her father doesn't come home, or why the dull throb in her
stomach won't go away.
What you can't see is that Margaret is dying of malnutrition.
She has periods of fainting, her eyes are strangely glazed. Next
will come a bloated stomach, falling hair, parched skin.
And finally, death from malnutrition, a killer that claims
10,000 lives every day.
Meanwhile, in America we eat 4.66 pounds of food a day per
person, then throw away enough to feed a family of six in India.
If you were to suddenly join the ranks of l'A billion people
who are forever hungry, your next meal might be a bowl of
rice, day after tomorrow a piece of fish the size of a silver dollar,
later in the week more rice — maybe.
Hard-pressed by the natural disasters and phenomenal birth
rate, the Indian government is valiantly trying to curb what
Mahatma Gandhi called "The Eternal Compulsory Fast."
But Margaret's story can have a happy ending, because she
has a CCF sponsor now. And for only $12 a month you can
also sponsor a child like Margaret and help provide food,
clothing, shelter — and love.
You will receive the child's picture, personal history, and
the opportunity to exchange letters, Christmas cards — and
priceless friendship.
Since 1938, American sponsors have found this to be an
intimate, person-to-person way of sharing their blessings with
youngsters around the world.
So won't you help? Today?
Sponsors urgently needed this month for children in: India.
Brazil, Taiwan (Formosa), Mexico and Philippines. (Or let us
select a child for you from our emergency list.)
Write today: Vcrcnt J Mills Box 26511
CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S FUND, Inc. Richmond.
I wish to sponsor a f | boy [ ] girl in (Country)
Choose a child who needs me most. I will pay $12 a month,
I enclose first payment of $ Send me child's name.
story, address and picture.
I cannot sponsor a child but want to give $
□ Please send me more information.
Name
Address
City
State
Zip
RcKislclra (\ I \ OKO) Willi 1 lie I S OoVflHTHnt'l Vlsisois i ommillM on
Volunian rorvign AM <iiiis .uc tai deductible Canadian! Wriu 1401
A'ona*. Toronto 7 tg69no>
IiH.I IMIK
1 t
POWWOW
Should Worship Be a
Family Affair?
Yes! Let's Keep Families
Together
By CHESTER E. HODGSON
Pastor, Freeport United Methodist Church
Freeport, New York
ONE JULY Sunday morning after our worship service,
my wife and I accepted an invitation to attend a
Roman Catholic service. It was a "folk mass" — a
mass with folk music.
Some young people from the parish had formed a
combo of guitars, drums, and other instruments. They
played and led us in singing Shalom, Lord of the Dance,
Let There Be Peace on Earth, Amazing Grace, and some
other popular religious songs. The song sheet was
illustrated with symbols of songs and sayings like "Spirit
of Peace — renew our world," "Smile," and "Love
one another."
In his homily, the young priest touched on some
everyday problems confronting us. His remarks tied in
perfectly with both the day's Scripture and the songs
we had sung. I was impressed with how the service's
message of peace, brotherhood, unity, and love con-
veyed the deeper meaning of our faith in powerful,
understandable terms. I feel sure that everyone there
was made aware of the meaning of God for his or her
life and the life of mankind.
Something else about that service impressed me greatly:
whole families were worshiping together. We had gotten
there early enough to see family after family come in
and take their places. It was beautiful to see little
children and teen-agers sitting with their parents and
joining in the service — especially in singing the songs,
some of which they seemed to know by heart. There
was some squirming and whispering. But for the most
part there was a spirit of worship, a kind of joyousness
which seemed to result from children of all ages,
parents, and even grandparents worshiping together.
This worship experience caused me to reflect on the
way we Protestants divide ourselves up within our
church life. We are split-level families as far as worship
is concerned. We tend to split other parts of our church
life into bits and pieces, too — church-school for children,
youth fellowship for young people, women's society for
women, and men's clubs for men. Then there are all
those church organizations which are broken down into
assorted age levels as if we somehow don't feel we can
mix socially with those of different ages. The one time
when we all could, and should, be together is in the
worship service, a time when every barrier must fall away
and when we become one in Christ. Instead, we are
splitting our families by our church-school program.
What value is there in parents driving up to the church
on Sunday morning and depositing their children in
church school, going home for an hour, returning and
picking them up? What kind of church relationship do
these families have? What kind of pattern is being set
in the minds and lives of the children? Are not the
parents saying by their attitudes and actions that the
church and worship are of no value at all?
What about the parents who attend services alone,
without the children? Are they not saying that the chil-
dren have their part in the life of the church, parents
have their part, and the two parts do not meet? Christian
education is emphasized for children and worship seems
intended only for parents.
If I am any judge after more than 35 years as a
minister, precious little seems to be learned and woven
14
November 1972 TOGETHER
into the fabric of life as a result of the church-school
experience. Confirmation classes of eighth and ninth-
graders affirm this. The majority of these young people
know little about the Bible, the Christian faith, the
foundations upon which our faith is based, or what they
themselves believe. And when it comes to applying
Christian beliefs in the everyday round of life, most are
woefully weak. Perhaps one reason for this is that a
person cannot apply to life and its demands what he
simply does not know or understand.
One of the stipulations for membership in our con-
firmation class is that the members worship each Sunday
and that their parents worship with them. You should
hear all the excuses. Class members have been adversely
influenced, in most cases, by parents who do not attend
worship and who simply want their children confirmed
because it is what is done at a certain age.
There is little sense of commitment on the part of
either children or parents. The church-school experience
has not geared these children to think in terms of
worship, and the parents have not guided them into the
worship experience by worshiping with them — either
at home or at church. Indeed, family worship in Protes-
tantism seems to have become almost nonexistent. It is
a pity because the values to be derived from family
worship in the midst of the congregation could make
quite a difference in family life and in the individual
lives of the family members.
Perhaps we need to take a look at our tendency to
split up our church relationships and experiences. We
are, willy-nilly, tearing apart our families when we should
be bringing them together within the framework and
fellowship of the church. Families worshiping together
may not be a panacea for our personal and social ills,
but it could be a unifying influence in Christian family
living, and such a unifying influence could prove to be a
healthy thing for untold families who claim to be
Christian.
Let's learn from my Roman Catholic neighbors. Let's
begin to worship together as families, adjusting our
church and church-school schedules to make this possi-
ble. And let's make our worship services more inviting
by using worship forms and materials that speak to
people where they are today. □
k'AHB
No! We Need Pluralism in
Worship
By JAMES F. WHITE
Professor, Perkins School of Theology
Dallas, Texas
I COULD NOT agree more with Pastor Hodgson that
worship is a vital part of the Christian's life at what-
ever age. No other activity in the Christian community
takes precedence over worship in shaping our lives as
people of faith and service. But should it be a family
affair?
Those of us who have large families know how difficult
it is to have recreation or any other activity together.
Long ago the church decided that education and most
of its social activities worked best in peer groups. How
often does the women's society meet with the youth
fellowship? Who tries to teach teen-agers and pre-
schoolers in the same church-school class? Are we not
in danger of saying that worship should be the one
unnatural experience, the exception to the rest of our
church activities and, indeed, to the rest of life? Indeed,
Mr. Hodgson says, "The one time when we all could,
and should, be together is in the worship service."
Implicit in such a statement is the admission that the
family today does little together.
In the past we succeeded in making worship an act
shared by all ages and groups within the church. But we
did this by ignoring the difference between people and
insisting that all conform to a certain type of worship in
which middle-class values of comfort and security were
echoed in carefully programmed services. We always got
from the top of the left-hand page of the bulletin to the
bottom of the right-hand page in precisely one hour.
lor those of us who are middle aged white, and middle
class, this has seemed absolutely right and natural.
Bui one ol the great developments in this country in
the 1960s was a visible splintering ol society in which
it became apparent that the imposition ol a single pat-
tern ol life style morality, 01 values on everyone is hard
to justify Yet, too often oui worship has remained in a
style that is comfortable and natural to .1 certain segment
ol the society— middle aged < hristians who are perhaps
the majority in oui churches bul nol in oui society
where most ol the population is below 28 We have nol
yet learned to think in pluralistii terms about worship
We were semng well a segment ol those who WO I
shiped >\n<i unknowingly were telling everyone else to
November "' ' rOCI 1 Ml K
conform to their pattern. We parents began each service
telling our children, "Now today I want you to sit still."
When the sermon came, we furtively allowed them to
draw pictures on the back of the bulletin so their wig-
gling, squirming, and stage whispers, "How much longer
is it going to be?" would not offend others. In effect
we were really saying, "Worship is not for children," or
"Children are not for worship. You have to become an
adult for worship. You can be a child the other 167 hours
per week but never at eleven o'clock on Sunday morn-
ing."
Youth also got the message, though a different one.
They came to understand worship as a boring affair with
minimal participation and little involvement beyond pas-
sive listening. So as soon as they got too old for us to
drag them to church, they stopped going. It was not that
they rejected Christian worship, they simply felt, "nothing
ever happens at church."
Of course it would be wrong to abandon a style of
worship that seems natural to those of Middle America
in order to satisfy their youth who demand a service
with a high level of participation. Instead, we must seek
worship forms that are natural to each age and group.
For children this may mean that worship should be
largely visual and make use of the large muscles of the
PRESENCE
By Bernard S. Via, jr.
Here I kneel
For drop and crumb,
Searching for uniqueness
To justify this strangeness.
By this conformity
Am I by commitment confined?
Or by this vision freed?
All I know is,
That in the places sacrament sends me,
I would not go alone.
body. It may mean, for youth, music that moves and
worship that is spontaneous and allows for the unex-
pected rather than adhering strictly to the neat sequence
of a bulletin.
Age may not be the crucial factor, either, for many
older Methodists still have a warm nostalgia for body
music and spontaneity in worship — two factors stifled
in the last 50 years. But no longer do we have a right to
impose one style of worship on everyone any more than
we can force others to adopt our life-style, morality, or
values. A pluralistic approach to worship recognizes that
different cultural expressions are theologically neutral
and that no style of preaching or music is more or less
"Christian" than another.
How do we put this together in the average congrega-
tion? I would like to suggest two possibilities that are
becoming more and more common in small or medium-
sized congregations and a third which works best in
larger congregations.
The first possibility is one service which deliberately
tries to have something for everyone. In these situations
the whole congregation is represented by worship that is
a cross section of the people whom God has called
together. The pastor may wince at the inclusion of some
gospel hymns just as others may squirm when the choir
sings Bach or Palestrina. But we have an eclectic society
so why not an eclectic service? I think this is the type of
service that Pastor Hodgson mentions, one still not com-
mon in United Methodism. This pattern demands growth
on the part of every member and careful pastoral leader-
ship in helping people develop mutual acceptance of
one another's natural forms of perception and expression.
A second possibility does not attempt to do this in a
single service but assigns certain services during each
month (or longer period) to different groups. Thus there
may be a Sunday service planned entirely by youth. There
are problems, however, since it may give some people an
incentive to stay home on certain Sundays. But it does
make some things possible, such as occasional worship
in places other than the sanctuary.
Thirdly, large congregations may hold several different
worship services and provide a variety of options on
Sunday mornings as well as throughout the week. In this
way large congregations may have services with the
intimacy of small tightly knit groups. Worship can center
on children, youth, those who love the traditional, or
those who appreciate the new forms.
Maybe the family should not worship together if it
means a failure to respect the selfhood of any member.
And this may be the best way to let the whole family
worship, not together but with their peer groups where
they can be most sincerely and honestly themselves. In
this way we can come to accept, respect, and love the
whole family without forcing a false conformity on any
of its members. □
16 November 1972 TOGETHER
IS ANYONE
THERE?
By Margaret Haun
"Have you ever had a moment when you felt the actual
presence of God?" the television talk-show host asked
his guest with a seeming wistfulness. It was a question
he often asks, and I always wait with eager anticipation
for the answer. Never yet, not even when the guest was
a famous minister, has it been more than a vague
generality, something about a "nice reeling. "
Once I would have been forced to make the same
reply. But one morning changed all that. That day I
got up, put on a robe, went into the living room of the
small house where I live alone, and sat down m a chair.
What I did next no one a few years previously could
have convinced me I would ever want to do, let alone
have the audacity to attempt. For I was about to declare
an ultimatum to God that I would sit there until I had
personal proof of his existence.
Strange as it may seem, my challenge did not seem
unreasonable to me. I had recently been with others who
had been touched by God's presence, and they were
neither saints nor mystics but ordinary persons like myself.
My early experience with what is often referred to as
"kooky fanaticism" had been limited to roaring with
laughter outside what we called a "Holy Roller" church
And that was long ago. Never in a million >ears would
their excessive emotionalism have led me to m> Determi-
nation that morning. It took tv\o gentle matrons, dose
tnends living in my former home town, to : ead the way
Several years earlier, Barbara. Emily, and I, deploring
the lack of vitality in our churches had come together
to seek a deeper meaning to life. Some of our praters
were answered. A man tor whom we prayed was told
by his doctor that his reco\er\ was a miracle Things that
might not ha\e happened seemed to come about because
we held them up in pra\er. But with it all, for me at
there was a persistent dissatistaction. Did anyone actually
listen when we poured out our heart longings' Or was
"I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who
is coming after me . . . will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and with fire," John the Baptist told his listeners
(Matthew 3:11). A few years later, after lesus' death,
Resurrection, and Ascension, John's words came true for
Jesus' disciples in a Jerusalem upper room.
Today thousands of Christians from all walks of life
are experiencing a "new Pentecost.'' Some critics say the
renewed interest in such personally experienced religion
is a reaction to the depersonalization experienced in
modern society. Others suggest it is because materialism
has been tried and found wanting. Theological scholars
like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, on the other hand, pre-
dicted that the importance of Christianity's supernatural-
ity someday would be recovered. They also said that a
Christianity which denies its mystical realm is in fat I
unbiblical.
"We know what the Gospels and the Acts tell us. Why
should we doubt the possibility of the Holy Spirit acting
that way in the world today?" Roman Catholic Cardinal
Leo Jozef Suenens ol Belgium asked earlier this year.
Said United Methodist theologian Albert Out ei refer-
ring to the charismatic movement "I think i know some
of the gifts and fruits ol the Spirit when I see them, and
i am convinced that much ol what I have seen is foi
real." [See A Third Great Awakening? lune page
It is estimated that there are 60 000 to 100 000 Catl
neo-Pentecostals and as main 01 more Protestant i
rheil continued interest in the Hol\ Spirit has been
i ei lee ted at church gatherings The recent c onvocation ol
United Methodists tor Evangelical Christianity tor in
stance, had sessions on the min stry ol hea ng and on
the charismatic movement Some 10,000 Catholics met at
the l niversity oi Notre Dame in lune tor a charismatic-
renewal conference
indiuduais experiences with the Holy Spirit of course
are varied — as are each mans contacts with his <■ reatoi
for the author oi the follow ng arti< e a' least the least
understood Person ol the rrinity has opened a whole
new understanding ot life — Youi Editors
Novel UH.MMIK
God, as a friend insisted, only alive in our imaginations?
I remembered my high-school-class church-school
teacher. A middle-aged, sincere woman, she confessed
to us once, "I have been a Christian all my life, but I
have never had a single proof of God's existence."
On Easter morning, when the congregation chorused
loudly, "He lives! ... He lives within my heart!" I sin-
cerely hoped he lived in mine. But I never felt sure he
did.
After Barbara, Emily, and I started our prayer group,
I began a disciplined morning reading, meditation, and
prayer period. Once in a while I seemed very near
another dimension of awareness, but I could never over-
come the feeling that it might be self-induced.
Eventually I moved to another state. I missed the
prayer group more than my family and other friends. I
had not realized how much it had helped sustain me.
On my first visit back, the next year, I noticed a change
in Barbara and Emily. I detected an added enthusiasm, a
barely suppressed excitement, the cause of which came
out in the strangest tale I ever had heard.
With Emily's husband and three other persons, they
had driven half a state away for what they called "the
laying on of hands" by a young minister, and they all
had received "the Baptism in the Holy Spirit."
I was appalled. We had experimented with many forms
of prayer in the past — but this was going too far. Shades
of the old Holy Rollers. The girls had gone off the deep
end! The following year I wondered idly, when I thought
about it at all, what had possessed my friends.
THIS ALL happened before the spread of the charis-
matic movement to college campuses had made
headlines. The charismatic movement, it might be
explained, is one of those periodic outbursts in the cen-
turies since the beginning of Christianity when the scenes
enacted at Pentecost and during the next 300 years are
reenacted. People for some reason become discontented
with both personal and universal states of affairs and
this unrest seems to create a vortex into which a new
infusion of spiritual life with its amazing gifts can be
sent. The so-called )esus People and Christian communes
are part of the latest evidence of it.
When I returned to my old hometown the second
summer, Barbara and Emily were ready for me with a
tape recording. "Ignore the background," admonished
Emily. "This is an Episcopalian rector speaking to a group
of Pentecostals."
Dutifully I listened as the speaker explained how the
experience that had given life and vitality to the early
Christian church is still available and can be claimed by
anyone today. He said people ot ali denominations were
receiving it and bringing the real meaning back to Chris-
tianity. It was unlike any message I had ever heard.
To this day I do not know whether Barbara and
Emily know that something happened to me while I
was listening to this tape. Even more peculiar, I did not
realize it then myself. It never remotely occurred to me
to ask the girls how one came to this experience. I had a
vague feeling one might be expected to work up to some
frenzy of which I was not capable. So I returned home
with a yearning but dimly discerned for something about
which I knew almost nothing.
Glowing letters from Emily and Barbara did nothing to
dispel my unrest. Members of their families were receiv-
ing the Baptism. A bishop in their church and many
clergy had heartily endorsed the experience. Amazing
stories of healing and guidance were being told.
"I was called to the hospital late one night," Emily
wrote. "My mother had been taken seriously ill from
some unknown cause. I hurriedly dressed and as I drove
across town, too frightened to think clearly, I began to
pray in the Spirit. When I got to the hospital, Mother
had recovered. The doctor could not understand it."
This and similar stories sent me at last to a local min-
ister. "Do you have anyone in your congregation inter-
ested in the new charismatic movement?" I plunged in.
He hesitated so long I asked if he knew what I was talk-
ing about.
"We have no one here," he finally said. At my obvious
disappointment he added halfheartedly, "I believe there
is a group at Father Paulson's church in Redville."
Thus I came among those who are, I often think, much
like the first-century Christians must have been. Here
were people praying for one another, finding release and
joy and inspiration in song and prayer. How I wanted
what these people possessed! But I was still too timid
and too unaware of the universal availability of this bap-
tism to make my wish known. Frankly, I could not con-
ceive of a Supreme Being stooping to bestow such a
treasure on me — maybe on others, but not on me.
By now Emily and Barbara were aware of my longing.
One of them suggested that, if I needed help, a Father
Irving some hundred miles from my home was having
phenomenal success. So one night I called him to make
an appointment. "My dear, you don't need to come way
up here. You can receive anywhere," he said. I have
forgotten what else he told me. I knew then that he
would pray for me and I knew also that space is no
barrier to things of the Spirit.
So there I was the next morning, sitting in my chair,
my soul on tiptoe to receive this miraculous something
my life was lacking. It is an awesome thing to present
one's soul naked and vulnerable to the Lord of the uni-
verse. One can never feel worthy but must come at last,
humble and penitent for all one's shortcomings, with an
overwhelming desire to have one's life become some-
thing of more significance.
After a time of quiet I recalled Emily's saying that pray-
ing in the Spirit is mainly for one's private devotions so I
began to sing Praise Cod from whom all blessings . . .
And then — it happened. What someone aptly has
called a "rush of love" seemed to descend and engulf
me. My entire body was alive and vibrant. Here was
surely the "strangely warmed heart" which sent lohn
Wesley out to change the lives of countless thousands.
I was given both a keen awareness of the presence of the
Lord Jesus and beautiful words with which to praise him.
At long last I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that
Someone indeed is there. □
18
November 1972 TOGETHER
Say It!
Our editors may or may not agree with opinions
expressed, but they believe in your right to Say It!
And that is what this new department is (or.
Does an idea oi yours need saying? Send it to Say It!
7667 N. Northwest Highway, Park Ridge, III. 60068
This has become the day of
evangelism. People reach out
almost frantically for something
to grasp. What an amazing
thing that a generation which
sought to find its answers in a
drug culture has now begun
to turn on to Jesus. Perhaps this
symbolizes better than anything
else the amazing time into
which the church has come.
Roger L. Fredrikson, Past President
American Baptist Convention
As 1 have read and heard about
the 1972 United Methodist
General Conference, the treatment
given to the subject of
homosexuality has reminded me of
a 17th-century witch-hunt.
Secular society led the
church at last to give up
witch-hunting (and segregation, and
so forth). Apparently secular
society again will have to lead
the church to new understanding
and tolerance.
Violating Christ's command to
invite all to come to him and
to love our neighbors as ourselves,
we are less "Christian" than the
society which we are supposed
to leaven. How long will it be
before we in the church can see
that the feared and hated "queer"
is really our next door neighbor,
our store clerk, our teacher,
our minister, our policeman, our
best friend, our banker, our own
brother and sister?
Perhaps there are not 6
million gay people as some claim;
nevertheless there are many.
For the most part they live quiet,
normal lives, doing their jobs,
attending church, participating in
civic activities. In fact, they
are just like everyone else
except that they love someone of
the same sex. We don't understand
why, but we don't really
understand either why heterosexuals
love someone ot the opposite sex.
Some young gay people are
demanding recognition, and like
other oppressed minorities, they
are doing it loudly and
flamboyantly. But most gay peop'e
still conceal themselves and
suffer their oppression in silence.
It is time to free them from that
oppression, to restudy our
Bibles, to insist on sound
psychological understanding, and
to offer the love which Christ
taught us and commanded us to
show to others.
Roy E Tee'o
Georgetown, Texas
One big objection I find in
your magazine is the use of the
slang word "kids" in referring
to our children. The parents
of kids are goats. How would you
like your children or grandchildren
to refer to you as an old goat?
Clarence B. Steffey
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Our recent deliberations and
ultimate decision to relocate our
family motivated the following
prayer on making decisions.
Perhaps Together's readers might
find it helpful.
Dear Lord, help us to make
the best decision,
Then help us to make the best
of our decision. Amen.
Mrs. R. K. Underwood
S<in lose, Calif
Why is a socially sensitive movement
like women's liberation neglecting
its older "sisters," leaving them to
fend for themselves? Why aren't old
women raising vehement
protestations about this?
The answer to such questions
requires a look .it a newly defined
but very familiar prejudice called
"ageism." Ageism can be described
as a process ot systematic
stereotyping oi and discrimination
aga nst peop'e because they are old,
just as racism ard sexism accomplish
tins with sk r coior ano gender.
Old peep e are categorized as
senile, rigid in thought and manner,
old fashionea ,n morality and skills.
Ageism allows aii of us to see old
peop.e as c! tierent" from those
of us v\ho are younger. We subtly
cease to identify with them as
humans ana thus we can feel more
comfortable about theii frequently
poor social ard econom c plight.
We can avoid the notion that
our produc'A ty-nnnaed society
really has no use for the
nonproducers — in this case those
who have reached retirement age.
Myrna I. Lewis aro
Dr Robert N. Butler
From The National Observer
It is regrettable that a small
minority of our peopie, not
being acquainted with the horrors
of war. should question the role
played by the chaplains in our
mil i.iry establishment.
War, a man-instituted phenomenon
foretold by our Lord in his
words, "And you will hear of wars
and rumors of wars," requires
the services of dedicated men, be
they Catholic priests, Protestant
ministers, or Jewish rabbis,
acting in the capacity of chaplains
I have witnessed the value of
the ministries of these men to our
military personnel, both
stateside and overseas.
My belief is that our
President, the Congress (reflecting
the feelings of the majority of
our citizens), and the judicial
branch will never permit the
elimination of the role of the
military chaplains from our
armed forces.
( ieorge H NUCullagh
Colonel. US Arnn (Ret
Toni 1 . Rivet N.j.
Nov< n rOCI iMfR
10
■ r£S*i-
!
What Hope for the Americ
TRYING to discuss the U.S. justice system in only nine
pages is something like attempting to explain Einstein's
theory of relativity in 25 words or less. Our long re-
search produced some startling findings, any of which
would have been worth major consideration. For example:
• Most people arrested in the United States are 15 and
16-year-olds.
• Commonly a felony defendant who pleads guilty gets
less than an hour in court although the elapsed time from
his initial appearance to the disposition of his case is four
months or more.
• Disorderly conduct, drunkenness, minor morals
charges, and gambling account for almost half of all non-
traffic arrests.
• New York City spends about $10 million yearly to
hold people awaiting trial because they cannot post bond.
• Many zookeepers are higher paid than prison guards.
• Sentences are not uniform. The same state gave one
man a 5-year sentence for rape, another man 12 years for
stealing a pig. California sentenced a man to "one year to
life" for a $70 holdup. (He died in prison after serving
more than ten years.) Texas sentenced a young drug pusher
to 1,500 years in jail.
Some major issues like these are referred to in the
following report, but usually indirectly. Our primary con-
cern is with people rather than with institutions or organi-
zations — who rather than what — -and most of our report
takes the form of conversations with people. These individ-
20 November 1972 TOGETHER
uals speak from firsthand experience from both sides of the
bars. We hope they will tell you not only how our system
of justice operates but what it could become — and what
you can do to improve it.
"Can one person or one church group make an appreci-
able difference in the struggle to achieve 'justice for all'?"
someone asked us the other day. We thought immediately
of a municipal judge in Royal Oak, Mich., who initiated a
program for volunteers to aid misdemeanants. Today he
directs Volunteers in Probation, Inc., a nationwide or-
ganization offering help to those interested in probation
programs. We thought of a Quaker group in Philadelphia
whose persistence brought about bail reform and other
local court-system improvements. Other examples of what
men, women, young people, even children, are doing to
improve American justice are included in this report.
We would like to challenge you as we have been chal-
lenged by our findings. Resolve to do at least this one thing
in 1973 to become better informed about our justice
system: visit the penal institution nearest you. To help you
improve whatever conditions you find, we will supply
examples of individual programs, plus names and addresses
of organizations providing more specific information.
Finally, may the words of the writer of Hebrews be
your spiritual guide in whatever institution you visit:
"Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison
with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also
are in the body." — Martha A. Lane and John A. Lovelace
riminal?
«!■
For Prisoners, the
Outside Is a World Away
Frank Earl Andrews and Clenn D. Mann have a lot in
common, though they have never met. Likely they never
will because:
Andrews is in New Jersey State Prison on a sentence of
41 years minimum, 47 years maximum for kidnapping, at-
tempted murder, and robbery. He first served time in a
detention home at age seven and has spent 21 of his 26
years under supervision of some sort.
Mann is in Ohio State Penitentiary on a life sentence for
second-degree murder.
Each man has had a religious experience while in prison.
Andrews describes his as an awakening. Mann tells of his
contact with a prison concern group at a local (Columbus,
Ohio) church. Here, in their words, are some descriptions
of life in prison.
By FRANK EARL ANDREWS
What would you expect of a boy, suddenly thrust into
a home for delinquents, who there finds himself con-
fronted with rules and regulations backed up with nothing
but raw violence? What is he to do when the bigger, older,
stronger boy takes his food packages from home, demands
his dessert in the dining hall for protection dues, or at-
tempts to force him into degrading homosexual acts?
There are only two avenues open for the boy. He can
fight fire with fire. Or he can swallow it all and become a
punk, a dip, a scapegoat for every tough guy's frustration
and inadequacy. Most fight, sooner or later. In order to
maintain his status and keep the wolves from turning on
him he will have to participate in the taunting and torment-
ing of other young fish coming in off the streets. So he is
considered incorrigible and is passed along to an institution
for bigger and older delinquents.
This institute of higher learning is in actuality just another
jail cloaked behind the shallow camouflage of so-called
rehabilitation. The same old jungle law applies. Long ago
he learned that it was not the administration he must
impress, not the officers, instructors, or psychologists —
who put in eight hours a day and go home — but fellow
inmates, the people he must live with 24 hours a day.
Still, there is no substitute for freedom, and the boy,
nearly a man now, decides to give squaresville a try. He is
released on parole. Now he comes face-to-face with a new
problem. No one will trust him in a responsible job, give
him real friendship, or a fresh start, and he winds up
pumping gas in a service station for $30 or $40 a week. He
may meet a girl who doesn't care that he's been in a reform
school, but her parents won't hear of it. He must report to
a parole officer once a week. He must bring proof that he
is working and be off the streets by ten o'clock. He cannot
have a driver's license and cannot leave the state, not even
for an hour, without first getting permission.
It isn't long before he realizes that his freedom is a
shallow thing. The people that have been constantly telling
him society will accept him again don't accept him them-
selves. He is forbidden to associate with other ex-convicts,
parolees, or probationers, yet can find companionship
nowhere else. And by surrounding himself with this ele-
ment, violating his parole, his old training comes to the
surface and he reverts to what he knows best. Naturally he
winds up in jail again.
This time it is the Big Top, and there is no smoke screen
thrown up under the guise of a rehabilitation program.
Here things are narrowed down to the raw facts. You have
committed a crime and you are here to pay for it. The cloud
of violence hangs heavy over this place. Even though the
walls are only a few feet thick, the outside world is a
million miles away. For many it no longer exists.
The Big Top — a myriad maze of blue uniforms, silver
badges, steel bars, and high gray walls. Quarantine. Isola-
tion. Fingerprinting, mug shots, clothes that are too large,
high-topped work shoes, a cup and a spoon. Polio, flu,
and tetanus inoculations. Blood tests, smear tests, T.B.
tests, aptitude tests.
The first night was the hardest. When the lights went off
at 10:30 there was no one who could see me. It was all
right to take off the mask because there was no one to see
me cry. I tried to think, but couldn't. I tried to sleep, but
didn't. There was only me, the cell, the steel door, re-
minders of how small and insignificant I really was
I reflected on the sentence the judge had imposed on
me. I remembered the lecture he gave me aftei sentencing,
but I drew no comfort from his words: "You are a
product of our penal system, a symbol of its failure an
example ol its futility. Now it is too late tor you hank
Earl Andrews, and you art- bettei ofl ^hut awa)
As the quarantine period passed, the outside world
■ tin IT.' HH,I IIIIK 21
grew dimmer. Then I received my first visit. As I looked
through the plate-glass window that separated me from
my wife and daughter I fought back the tears. There were
other inmates in the visiting room and I couldn't afford
to let my mask down. I watched with an ache in my heart
as my wife made a futile attempt at gaiety, while my little
girl pushed her nose against the window and made funny
faces at me.
It seemed no longer than a moment before a guard
tapped me on the shoulder and told me my 15 minutes
were up. It was all I could do to keep from screaming.
A few weeks later I was classified for a job. I worked my
way into the "in" crowd and became super cool, arrogant,
insubordinate, a perfect example of hypocrisy. Loving be-
came corny, honesty became stupidity. Goodness was
weakness, welfare was slavery, adjustment was conformity,
good taste was bad style.
Many times I wanted to attend the religious services on
Sunday morning, mostly out of curiosity, but that would
have been to risk the scorn of my buddies. Religion was
considered a form of neuroticism and I would be thought
a weakling, someone who needed a crutch.
About nine months ago I took another look at myself,
and it began in church. I and a group of my cronies
had agreed to attend the services where we could em-
barrass the preacher and the pathetically few who were
really sincere in their belief of a God. I don't know the
exact moment, but I was looking down the row at my so-
called friends. I felt a sudden stirring, an awakening. I
asked myself if this was indeed the type of person I wanted
to be, if jeering and snickering at people who meant me no
harm was to be my calling. I asked myself if the association
of a few hard-core convicts was more important than the
respect of my family, my true friends, my child. Then I
realized that there was someone somewhere who knew
a great deal more than I did, that I wasn't doing my thing
at all, but that my thing was doing me.
There are many questions that I haven't found answers
for yet, but I am still searching. The mess bell, the count
bell, still continue to ring loudly, and the rattling door lock
still trembles like thunder, but this doesn't bother me
either. I have learned that the bells are His. A storm is
His and so is the rainbow that follows. And even though
the lights still go off at 10:30 every night, there is never
total darkness in my cell, never total loneliness. That is
because I have taken the first big step, the most important
one, and now I am letting Him do His thing. □
Excerpted with permission from the February, 1970, issue of Event,
published by the American Lutheran Church. Copyright © 7970 by
American Lutheran Church Men. — Your Editors
By GLENN D. MANN
This is July 4 and it's a holiday. We don't go out to
work today. It's a visiting day, too, but it doesn't look like
I'm going to get a visit.
I was 33 years old when I came to prison five years
and one month ago. Ohio Penitentiary is very old. I guess
it dates back to the Civil War. When I first came to this
pen I was scared very badly. It was right after the crime.
I'm doing a life sentence for second-degree murder and
that was fresh in my mind when I came here.
Coming in from the outside it was a dull, dreary, cold,
imposing place. I was put into a cell with three other men.
They're cramped, quartered cells with one toilet and a
cold-water sink. You spend most of your time there when
you're not going to class, periods of orientation, and
things like that.
I'm in the "honor dorm" now, just a few feet from the
pen, but it's on the outside of the wall. We still have
four men to a room, but the rooms are a lot larger. Most
of us work outside the wall around the honor dorm. There
are no locks on the doors of our room. In the dining room
we can sit at tables instead of the rows of benches we had
inside, and we can go to bed when we want to and get
up when we want to. Just recently they installed — it's the
first ever in Ohio — two pay phones so we can make out-
going calls from the dormitory. Censorship has been re-
moved from our mail. We can write to whomever we want.
So the increased contact and the increased freedom are
the benefits of being in the honor dorm. I qualified for it by
having a certain amount of my sentence in and keeping a
good record. Then a board votes whether to admit you.
The first contact any of us had with the First Community
Church [the minister, the Rev. Robert A. Raines, is a
United Methodist] happened in an odd way. The peniten-
tiary chaplain had a dog that got sick and he took it to a
veterinarian, Dr. Norris. Dr. Norris is a member of First
Community Church, a pretty progressive and active church.
Dr. Norris wondered if they couldn't participate in some
type of program. I don't know exactly how, but it ended
up that Dr. Norris got three folk singers — two young men
and a young lady — to sing one Friday evening in the honor-
dorm dining room. This was the first time for local people
to come in and entertain us.
I guess they went back to the church and found a good
many interested in some kind of concern for the prisoners
at Ohio Penitentiary. So they asked Warden H. J. Card-
well if they could get some other entertainment into the
honor dorm.
It became a regular thing, maybe one Friday a month.
They would allow people from the congregation to come
22 November 1972 TOGETHER
and visit with the guys — just sit and talk. The honor dorm
provided coffee, and maybe some of the guys in the
kitchen would bake a big cake. More and more people
started coming.
The men in the dorm and the church members began to
want to be involved in other things besides entertainment.
So again they went to the warden and asked if the guys
could come over to church services. So once or twice a
month we got to go over to First Community Church to
attend services, then have a little talk and coffee after-
wards. The guys enjoyed this a lot.
As we became closer related, other people not members
of the church wanted to be part of the group so they
formed a prison-concern group. They hold meetings and
orientation sessions at the church.
Last summer the prison-concern group organized some
picnics and got permission to transport a busload of guys
out to a park. It's a family thing. The guys play with the
kids, talk with the older people, and just generally have a
good time relating to everyone.
Dr. Norris had done some encounter groups — they call
them D-groups — and some guys in the dorm were inter-
ested in some kind of group therapy or interpersonal rela-
tionships to generally get their minds straightened out. He
got permission to come in one night a week, and we
formed an encounter group, ten of us. I saw eight other
convicts relate to Dr. Norris and to each other in a way that
I never thought possible.
About the time the D-group was ending, the church was
beginning a program called an experiment in practical
Christian living. It was designed not for the pen at all but
for outside people who signed up for 12-week sessions.
Dr. Norris was impressed with the progress we had made,
and he wondered if we could participate in the experi-
ment. We were all for it. He went again to the administra-
tion and to the church and somehow it became possible for
us to participate. Close to 100 outside people had signed
up. They didn't know we were coming or who we were.
We were just nine other people. One of the officers here
volunteered to escort us in civilian clothes.
They broke it down — 100 outside people and 9 con-
victs — into small groups, 14 to 16 in a group. The first week
or two it got out that we were inmates at the pen. No one
in my group seemed startled. So we got to know each other
and they got concerned about the prison and the inmates,
and some of them have since joined the prison-concern
group and come over to visit regularly.
The members of the group began to form one-to-one
relationships with inmates. I don't think that was their de-
sire, but that's the way it worked out. It's inevitable: when
a bunch of people come to see a bunch of guys and they
keep coming, you strike up personal relationships and
friendships and then the guy is looking forward to visits
from certain people — they're coming to visit him.
The experiment in practical Christianity had to do mainly
with problem sharing, a burden-bearing type of thing. We
went through the Gospel of Mark each week, paraphrasing
it in modern language and explaining what it could, has,
and might mean to us. Probably the greatest thing for me
was getting to know these outside people. They were all
pretty well educated, middle-class people. I don't know
if it was exactly faith in me, but their expressions of hope
for me kind of lifted me into a new way of thinking about
myself: that maybe I actually can get to places that I had
unconsciously written off. This is about the same thing it's
meant to others. One fellow who has been in the pen
system for over 16 years told me that this was the first
meaningful program he has participated in. He just couldn't
get over the interest they had in him and that they really
cared. Too, we found out that people outside had prob-
lems. In here you don't often get the chance to talk to
other people and have them go away feeling better. They
weren't in some kind of a high position, reaching down to
help out the lowly convict.
I have a mother and a stepfather who live about 150
miles away and a sister who lives at the same place. She
is grown and married. My wife divorced me about two
years ago. I have one grown child whom I haven't seen
in many years. My mother comes on the average of once
every three or four months with my stepfather. My sister
comes perhaps once a year. She has a big family and plenty
to do. Before the First Community Church group started
coming down, that was the extent of my visitors. Now one
person comes down usually once a week. We have lunch
together.
I don't have any preacher. The guy I put down as a
preacher when I came in here sent me a Christmas card
the first year that I got here.
Visitors are a very important part of what I call the re-
socialization of inmates. Guys are really hungry — starving
— for this type of relationship to people. What makes a
good visitor? Just being open, friendly, and kind of letting
it happen with a guy. Getting in there with him psychologi-
cally.
What makes a bad volunteer? Being too pushy or trying
to be overly helpful and maybe having preconceived ideas
of what's good for me and trying to lay it on me without
my realizing it. One mistake volunteers make is coming out
with a Bible too quick and strong.
I think the biggest reason that some prisons have deten-
.
nb*i 1973 FOCI ihik > i
orated is the isolation of the prison world and the prison
population from the outside world, from society as a
whole. If there's any one reason why all of us are in prison,
it's because we couldn't or wouldn't operate within the
bounds of society. The thing that prison should teach us
is how to operate within society in such a manner that we
won't break the law and come back to prison. This can't
be accomplished by isolating groups of men for years and
years and years. If they weren't able to operate in society
before, after years of isolation how much less are they
equipped to operate in it? I think the groups of outside
people by just coming in and bringing the outside to the
inside, in some cases the inside outside, probably do as
much good as any program could.
It's not the big, noticeable, overt things that really bug
a guy but the small things. Like it's always a sad time after
the visitors go home because they have some place to go.
Today, late in the evening, I can look out and see cars
going up and down and people with their families and
children. It's very difficult . . .
Good-bye now. Take care. Peace and love to you. □
Penologist Identifies
Dramatic Changes
By MYRL E. ALEXANDER, Former Director
U.S. Bureau of Prisons
On the first day I reported for work, I was sent to the
office of the deputy warden of the U.S. Penitentiary in
Atlanta, Ga. The warden told me to stand on a small green
carpet in front of his desk.
"Young man," he said, "we don't need any college up-
starts here — and I'll show you why. Follow me."
We walked to a row of heavily doored cells back of his
office. He opened one. There in a dark cell stood a young
man on the tips of his toes with his wrists handcuffed to
a bar high over his head.
"That — and bread and water — is the only kind of social
work we need around here!"
We walked back to his office. I stood again on the
green carpet.
"Now, why don't you go back where you came from and
leave the prison to us who know how to handle cons?"
At that moment in 1931, 1 knew where I had to spend my
life. The newly created U.S. Bureau of Prisons was strug-
gling to bring order out of chaos. The Atlanta penitentiary
that had been built to house 1,700 men was crowded with
4,000 inmates. Prohibition was in its heyday, and probation
programs for prisoners were in their infancy.
The four decades since my day on the carpet have pro-
duced phenomenal changes in the prison system. Proba-
tion, parole, and halfway houses have developed as
alternatives to sheer imprisonment. Despite notable excep-
tions — especially in county jails — cleanliness, sanitation,
food, and medical services have vastly improved. The
quality of correctional personnel and the introduction of
behavioral scientists to the system have accelerated change.
More than six out of every ten convicted offenders today
are not behind bars but are returned to society under
intensive probation measures. Federal penal institutions
built in recent years are small and located near universities
for research and personnel development purposes. New
management approaches, work-release and study-release
programs, and furloughs are techniques for giving the
prisoner contact with the outside world that was unheard
of in the day of the old deputy warden.
Even so, almost daily there is a disturbance in some jail
or prison around the country.
Why? Because some basic changes in prisons still need
to be made. A major problem at Attica, for example, was
that most of the prison population came from inner-city
New York and had been isolated in a rural institution in the
northwestern part of that state. It was difficult for them to
stay in contact with their families, and morale sagged.
Attica has more than 1,000 inmates, and there are not
enough activities to occupy their time. Restlessness sets in.
The resulting ferment about the prison system is wide-
spread. All too often judgments are extreme and reactions
severe. Some advocates of reform would summarily release
all persons confined. They would literally tear down the
walls. Others are frightened and would return to a system
of rigorous, tough imprisonment with substantial use of
the death penalty.
The simple truth is that the U.S. system of punishment
and control is on the threshold of even more dramatic
change than has been evidenced in the last four decade.
Despite our new knowledge of behavioral and managerial
sciences, the prison system has lagged far behind in using
them. The methods and philosophies on which present
practice is based have become antiquated and counterpro-
ductive in contemporary society. The changes that lie
ahead will alter the present system even more than the
establishment of penitentiaries 200 years ago brought about
the abandonment of the mass executions, life exile, mutila-
tions, and slavery of earlier times.
In the development of this new system, whole segments
of society that have been relatively uninvolved in the
correctional system will come into play. Education and
industry will have large roles, as will government and the
social sciences. The church will have its place, too.
Five years ago, the President's Commission on Law
Enforcement and Administration of Justice began to focus
national attention on the critical role of corrections in
crime control: changing the "revolving door" effect of
jails and prisons and designing new approaches which will
intervene in criminal and delinquent careers and divert
offenders from antisocial careers to contributing citizen-
ship. This focus has been followed by massive funding and
support programs for correctional change and better edu-
cational and job-placement programs for offenders in
institutions and in community-based programs.
Striking and promising projects directed toward the
assimilation of former offenders are underway under the
sponsorship of labor unions, the junior chamber of com-
merce, several church bodies, and some of the major in-
dustries of the nation.
A proliferation of degree courses and special institutes
at universities, colleges, and community colleges offer
much promise for upgrading correctional personnel at all
levels and include both pre-career and in-career training
and professional development.
These developments can create the climate for change.
But gnawing questions remain: Will they succeed in re-
ducing crime? Can a rational and "scientifically" developed
system solve the age-old problem of deviant behavior? Can
the public understand and accept the change?
There are hopeful indications. Two years ago I met with
a group of prison administrators from Western Europe
and the two Americas. One day the discussion was devoted
to the female offender in prison. After several hours of
discussion, a colleague asked the Netherlands representa-
tive why he had remained silent.
"Because I have nothing to say," he replied. "We have
about 500 convicted female offenders in Holland and three
are institutionalized. All others are under intensive com-
munity supervision."
In that country only 1 out of 20 convicted male offenders
is incarcerated. Intensive supervision involving wide use
of community health, mental hygiene, educational and
industrial resources are used to control and retain the
offender in the community. That nation has not experi-
enced a rise in crime parallel to that in the United States.
At another time, I visited the Iwahig Penal Colony on
the island of Palaway in the Philippines where long-term
male offenders may live in a separate area of the 100,000-
acre farm and timbering colony with their wives and chil-
dren. I was thrilled to see the children of both staff and
inmates attending school together. Family ties were main-
tained and strengthened. Children were not stigmatized.
As we in North America, in concert with our colleagues
throughout the world, seek solutions to the vexing prob-
lem of the control and redirection of offenders against
the laws of our society, a series of rational components of
that search seems evident and involves diverse approaches:
• Broad-scale research and evaluation of the effective-
ness of the present system and its complex of interrelated
components will require new management philosophies
coordinated with universities.
• The design of a coordinated correctional continuum
to replace a splintered state-federal "nonsystem" is impera-
tive.
• The more than 4,000 county jails in the U.S. which
process more than 2 million persons annually must be
replaced by community correctional centers designed to
provide intensive diagnostic services with control and
treatment planning capabilities.
• Redesigned personnel policies which provide broadly
based programs for the preservice and in-service training
and development of correctional personnel are essential.
Today's youth are challenged by the need for change in
criminal justice. They are flocking to universities in unprec-
edented numbers to prepare for vocations in the system.
• Commitments by industry, labor, and trained volun-
teers from the public sector of society are required if long-
range support and control of offenders is to be realized.
• The perplexing problem of the dangerous, the violent,
the eruptive, and the unpredictable offender must be
squarely faced. New approaches in this area will combine
rigorous control and intensive psychiatric studies and treat-
ment. It is acknowledged that this stratum of offenders is
composed of 15 to 20 percent of convicted persons.
The public must know, however, that the ultimate pro-
tection of society from crime — and those who commit
crimes — can no longer be based on a philosophy and
theology of punishment, retribution, and vindictiveness.
Offenders present a wide range of behavior typologies and
require a wide variety of strategies based on man's newest
insights into human behavior. The church can help society
learn this lesson. □
An Interchurch Feature originated by The Lutheran Copyright 1972
by The Lutheran and reprinted in condensed form in Together
by permission.
(Continued on page 26)
Now roci mi R
Essential Ministries
Of Writing, Visiting
The hard facts of prison life and the pitfalls awaiting
straight people outside who try to help those behind bars
have become clear over the years to the Rev. William G.
Johnson. He directs the United Methodist Northern Illinois
Conference Prison Release Ministry program and pastors
Irving Park United Methodist Church on the city's north-
west side. His remarks to Together become almost a
manual of operations, particularly for anyone interested
in a ministry of correspondence with prisoners.
By WILLIAM G. JOHNSON
Hundreds of men in the Illinois prison system have no
family, no correspondence, and no visits. In the last nine
years I have been involved with, at a minimum, 1,000
men in correspondence and visiting. At any given time I
write to about 100 men.
The Prison Release Ministry (PRM) deals with the person
as an individual, with the institution as a friend, and with
the community as a source of information.
One group in the institution that needs counseling
and support as much as the prisoners is the guards. They
have a very confusing, frustrating, demanding job, and
we need to understand them. We try to help guards under-
stand their frustrations and try to humanize them because
the system dehumanizes them, too. It makes them keepers
and not brothers.
We try to change community attitudes with three or four
men who go out across Illinois speaking to church groups
and such. I speak an average of four or five times a month.
We are getting people aware. We have five communities
that have small groups of laymen ready to help men from
that area and neighborhood when they come out of prison.
One church, for example, provided an outlet for prisoners
who are artists. In the last three years through the PRM
and other groups, the church has sold over $5,000 worth
of art.
We have a clothes depot here in the church. People
from all over Northern Illinois supply these clothes.
When a man comes out, if he comes to us, we give him
personal items such as shaving gear, toothpaste, tooth-
brush, comb, nail clipper, shampoo, after-shave lotion,
deodorant, wash cloth — all in a drawstring bag that the
women make — plus suit, two pairs of pants, sports jacket
if he wants it, six shirts, a topcoat, four pairs of sox, two
shorts, two T-shirts, three handkerchiefs, a sweater if we
have it, a belt, ties, and shoes. When he walks out of
here, he does not have to spend any of the $50 he
received on release for clothes or personal items except
work clothes. And sometimes we have those.
A correspondence ministry creates a problem because, at
least in Illinois, every man is allowed six people on
his write list. Every state is different. Anyone can write him
and he'll receive the mail, but he cannot write back unless
the person is on his write list.
The worst thing that can happen, and it does happen
frequently, is that people get an idea they want to start
writing a man so they contact me. I have a list of 50 to 60
men who get very little mail. We have their permission to
put their names on the list, and we tell them someone's
going to write to them. Then if the person doesn't write,
we hear remarks like, "Well, there is the church again,
promising to do a lot of things but can't even come through
with a letter."
A prisoner handed me a letter recently and said, "I don't
want it. I'm not going to write this man any more." I read
the letter and I understood why. The man on the outside
wrote about his sons, six and three. He said his sons talk a
lot about their favorite things, like colors and food. And
he asked this man in prison, "What is your favorite color?
Favorite food?" So the man in prison tells him to forget it.
"I'm a human being back here," he says. "I'm a man that
can't see the world. I'm not interested in favorite colors
and favorite foods. I'm concerned about what's happening
out there."
It's a very crucial thing how that correspondence comes
in. The prisoner assumes that if you're interested enough
to write to him, you also will be interested enough to help
him. It may be at the point of saying, "Will you help me get
a job?" when he goes before the parole board. If a person
isn't willing to make that kind of commitment, he oughtn't
to write the man.
At one church outside Chicago there are 40 kids writing
to men in prison. There's no way to understand what
letters from those kids mean.
I've written to guys who haven't had mail for six or
eight years. Sometimes they haven't had visits in six to ten
years. No family, no one to care. They're really lost behind
those walls.
In Illinois a prisoner is allowed six people on his visita-
tion list, and he can have only one visit every two weeks.
Visits are conducted in a very difficult situation. The visitor
goes in and is searched — purses, clothes — then he gets his
ticket and commissary slip, which means he can buy up
to $3.50 worth of stuff in the commissary for the man
and it's delivered to the cell later. Then he waits until the
prisoner is called from his work assignment to come to
26 November 1972 TOGETHER
the visiting room. The visitor goes upstairs through two
locked gates into the visiting room. In the visiting room
there are two doors side by side and there's a steel, mesh-
wire partition down the center. The visitor enters one
door, the inmate the other, and they come down and meet
right in front of the guard. It's a long room with a table
down the middle with a glass partition about 18 inches
high. There are probably 60 stools.
In front of the guard when they first meet they can
shake hands or embrace. Then they go sit down. They can't
touch that window. If they hand anything over the window
the guard can terminate the visit. So there's no personal
contact. In a room with 60 people, all talking, you can
imagine the noise. As they leave — an hour and a half is the
limit — they can embrace.
One visit every two weeks and you have to be on the
prisoner's visitation list unless you get a special visit, and
they're pretty hard to get.
All this means that if a person on a visitation list goes
to visit a prisoner, he might not get in because some of the
family might have been there. Or if he does get to visit,
he might cut the family out of a visit. There is a need for
men and women to see selected prisoners who do not
have family visits.
My theory about visiting is to be yourself. Don't go in
with any set agenda. Learn how to be sensitive to the man
and his needs.
What do you learn from him? You learn what you've
done to him, what the system's done to him. And if you are
sensitive, you learn right off the bat that every prison
system that was ever created was a failure. All it really does
is train a man to be a better criminal. Any con will tell
you that. If he didn't know how to break into your house
before he went, he's darn sure to be able to when he
gets out.
The dream of 50 percent of my men is to be able to
come out and work with kids and keep them out of that
kind of setting. But there are no programs. There are two
reasons: racism and lack of funds. The primary reason is
that our society is a sick society that believes that it's well
and that all prisoners are sick. The very term "corrections"
carries with it the connotation that "we are going to cor-
rect you." Yet the correction is back to the norm of society
in which we live — nothing is said about whether those
norms are good or bad. And most of the guys in prison
are there because they are poor, uneducated, and black.
We refuse to deal with the social causes of crime — lack of
education, housing, employment; or discrimination. Our
advertising doesn't help when it says that to be a good
American man you need an income of $15,000 a year. □
Citizen Involvement:
A Sampler of Successes
By MARTHA A. LANE
Since half of all major crimes in the United States are
committed by persons under 18, programs for young of-
fenders — while they are still misdemeanants and before
they commit a felony — are essential.
A seminarian in Denver, Colo., wanted to help juvenile
offenders on a one-to-one basis. With ten like-minded
friends but no money he founded Partners, which today
involves some 300 volunteers. Misdemeanants and their
volunteers meet three hours a week for a year, sometimes
to talk, other times for recreational activities. Increasingly
ex-offenders are serving as volunteers. Youth helped
through Partners seldom appear in court again.
Young people from Center United Methodist Church and
six other Indianapolis congregations visit Indiana Boys
School every other week for such joint activities as picnics.
Some UMYFers have taken boys-school inmates to the
Indianapolis 500 race. Previously, inmates' regular visitors
were psychiatrists or other professionals.
An estimated 150,000 volunteers fill literally hundreds
of positions in courts and court-related programs. Others
help staff correctional institutions.
The Hennepin County Department of Court Services
Volunteer Program, Minneapolis, Minn., involves more
than 400 unpaid staff. Volunteers have been trained as pro-
bation officers, group-therapy leaders, marriage counsel-
ors, supervisors of parent/child visitation; to conduct pre-
hearing and presentence investigations, and much more.
The Bucks County (Pa.) Department of Corrections uses
about 125 volunteers in three correctional institutions.
They do office work in a rehabilitation center, welcome
visitors, and work directly with inmates.
A number of far-reaching, multipronged programs began
as a visitation ministry.
In Walpole State Prison in Massachusetts, an inmate
asked a visitor, "How can I learn computer programming?"
The volunteer contacted Honeywell Corporation for in-
formation. As a result, data-processing training now is
offered in at least two Massachusetts prisons.
In Seattle, Wash., a minister felt called to visit a prison —
something he knew nothing about. He asked to see "the
man who's been here the longest and has had no communi-
cation with the outside." He met a fellow who had been
there since he was 18, who had not received a lettei in
1
Novcmbei i'>V HH.I 1 III K 17
seven years. After four months of weekly visits, the minister
convinced the man of his sincere concern.
That was the beginning of Job Therapy, Inc., through
which 800 Seattle-area volunteers meet with felons on a
one-to-one basis, helping them to see their strengths and
to prepare for jobs and job-training. Housewife volunteers
canvass the job market monthly to learn what jobs are
available. Most of the men helped through Job Therapy get
jobs upon their release. The program, now expanding to
other states, always works with those least likely to succeed
— with much success.
Brentwood United Methodist youth, Denver, Colo.,
regularly visit the maximum security division of Colorado
State Penitentiary, many of whose 1,500 inmates are just
19 or 20. Prison rules presently restrict the young people's
participation to Sunday worship services which they plan
and lead and to occasional Yokefellow meetings (small
Christian-study groups).
Pioneer United Methodists in Walla Walla, Wash., have
visited, participated in small groups, and led worship ser-
vices in the nearby penitentiary for years. This spring three
inmates were allowed to lead a study program at the church
on I'm OK, You're OK (Harper & Row, $5.95). They wanted
to share how the book on transactional analysis by
Thomas A. Harris had helped them in prison. The meeting
was so fruitful it was repeated on an ecumenical basis.
Families of prisoners suffer greatly, even though per-
sonally innocent of the crime their member committed.
In 1955 two California women asked a sheriff what be-
came of the family of a man suddenly jailed. He didn't
know so they investigated. Nothing was being done. They
began a program which today uses hundreds of volunteers
to minister to prisoners' spouses and children. Friends Out-
side, headquartered in San Jose, provides transportation,
day and summer camps, tutoring, and emergency aid to
families — but only at the prisoner's request.
In San Quentin, Calif., a brightly painted, five-room
bungalow directly across from the state prison's gates aids
as many of the 3,000 monthly prison visitors as ask for it.
At least 15 churches now provide volunteers and funds
for The House. Help ranges from free coffee to transporta-
tion to and from the bus depot to counseling.
Most convicts are males. FBI figures show, however, that
female arrests for major crimes such as larceny, embezzle-
ment, and narcotics violations are rising sharply.
Since 1969, Southern California-Arizona Conference
women have been heavily involved with women parolees.
In Arizona they help women, one-to-one, particularly on
their release. Long Beach women aid parolees from Termi-
nal Island, a federal facility. San Gabriel women visit, put
on Christmas parties for inmates and their families, do
some drug-treatment work.
Riverside churchwomen set up a halfway house, meet
emergency needs of prisoners' families. Two San Bernar-
dino ladies took evening classes in social work so they
could aid drug parolees. And two former inmates helped
by the Riverside halfway house in turn have opened their
own home to parolees with drug-addiction problems.
Some of the nation's best-known prison ministries were
either begun by or are heavily supported by United Meth-
odist individuals and congregations.
The Alston Wilkes Society, a statewide South Carolina
program, was begun by a concerned layman in 1962. It
now is the largest prisoner-aid or correctional-service
agency in the world (6,000 members aid 1,500 people a
year). Volunteers visit prisoners, are parole counselors to
youthful offenders, and help develop parole plans. They
find jobs and housing for released men and women, teach
prerelease classes, plan in-prison social events, assist
prisoners' families, and run halfway houses.
Somerset County Chaplaincy Council, Somerville, N.J.,
an ecumenical ministry with offices in the United Method-
ist Church of Somerville, is an excellent example of a
countywide program. Council work includes systematic
visitation and Sunday-morning services at the county jail;
a drop-in center for teens; school discussions about drugs,
the law, and related topics; everything from emergency
housing to foster-home placement for prisoners' families;
vocational training and counseling; studies of existing jail
and justice systems followed by specific recommendations
for improvements; lobbying for legislative reform; in-jail
film and discussion groups; even weekly radio programs
about the local corrections scene.
The public's refusal to cooperate with police is a major
reason for continued crime and violence. A few programs
work against police-community distrust.
The Police-Clergy Crisis Program in Ohio assigns vol-
unteer clergy to ride regularly with police squads. While
the program helps clergy understand both their community
and the problems faced by police, the major achievement
probably is the aid on-the-spot clergy can bring persons
facing death, arrest, and other tragedies.
A Chicago citizen-action group representing some 35
organizations has successfully pressured local officials to
improve court procedures, police-community relations,
and other justice-related problems. The Northern Illinois
Conference helped launch the coalition — the Alliance to
End Repression — in 1969. The largely white, middle-class,
nondisruptive group gets things done by asking hard ques-
tions and studying existing conditions.
Those who best know and understand the problems of
prisoners, of course, are ex-prisoners. Dozens of programs
run by and for ex-convicts now exist.
The Fortune Society aids about 30 ex-convicts a day in
New York City. About three dozen ex-inmates speak in
teams to churches and other interested groups about how
the penal system really works. The group sells items made
by prisoners and ex-convicts, puts out a newsletter, and
directs a large correspondence project.
In Philadelphia the Barbwire Society aids just-released
convicts. Connections, staffed mostly by convicts' spouses,
does similar work in San Francisco. □
28
November 1972 TOGETHER
People Called Methodists
No. 80 in a Series
Daryl Henry:
BEAT
COP
Text by H. B. TEETER
Pictures by GEORGE P. MILLER
ONE DAY early last year, an Arizona housewife sat
down to write a letter to the editor of a local
newspaper's "The People Speak" department:
"Today I heard my husband (a police patrolman) re-
ferred to as a 'pig!' Today I kissed him goodbye, watched
him smilingly wave goodbye to our children and won-
dered, will he be smiling when he returns, or if he
returns?"
Mrs. Donna Henry, young mother of three, poured out
the pent-up emotions she had felt for months as riots
swept city after city and disrespect for law-enforcement
officers became widespread. Of her reason for writing
a letter to the Phoenix Republic-Gazette, she said:
"Uppermost in my mind was the fact that six officers
had been killed in Arizona within as many weeks. How
could one call such men 'pigs'? They had given their lives
to protect others."
Her letter continued:
"Each day I say a silent prayer and wonder what he
will be faced with that day: a suicide victim (with an
unrecognizable face), a lost child, a youth who's on a
'bad trip'?"
All these things — and more — could happen to Mrs.
Henry's husband, 29-year-old Daryl, a five-year veteran
on the Phoenix police force.
"How many family fights will he be called to, and how
many indignant citizens will he confront if he issues
them a ticket for traffic violations?
"Will someone today take a shot at him because he
stands for authority or wears a uniform . . . ? Today I
can't erase the question from my mind that someone
posed a few weeks ago: 'Why doesn't he get a different
job before someone kills him?' "
Investigating reports of an out-of-state car
transporting stolen goods, Patrolman Daryl Henry
checks a young suspect's driver's license.
This wife's concern, of course, is shared by several
hundred other wives and mothers in Phoenix and sur-
rounding Maricopa County. Daryl Henry is only one of
more than 900 policemen in that city-county area where-
in 1970 alone, more than 40,000 crimes ot violence were
reported.
It is a quiet morning, however, as Patrolman Henry
and his partner, Robert ( aitwright, cruise then area not
far from city hall. Daryl knows it well, having walked it
armed and unarmed, to become belter acquainted with
its 5,000 residents. A greal deal ot his time afool and in
the squad car, has been spent in public relations
Today, as the squad car moves slowb along the
sIi.h ks, bars, alle\s and decaying inisincss buildings
Novwnbm 1*73 ioi.i imik j«i
As they customarily do before going on shift at 10 a.m., Patrolman Henry (left) and his partner review
assignments and reports in a coffee shop near the Phoenix police station. Note radio receiver at Mr. Henry's left hand.
It keeps them in touch with the department dispatcher when they are out of the squad car.
drowse peacefully in red dish -ye I low dust under the
Arizona sun. Here and there the patrolmen recognize
and hail men and women they have arrested before and
probably will arrest again. One is a dope pusher who was
finally caught with the goods after weeks of painstaking
surveillance and is now awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, throughout the county, things are relatively
quiet. It will be the night men who will be busiest as the
tempo of crime mounts steadily during the week to its
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday-night peak.
Daryl Henry, who has worked the city by night as
well as by day, has seen and heard it all. A dark-eyed,
heavy-set young man with broad shoulders and a plea-
sant smile, he wonders if he can ever hide his own
human emotions behind that hard shield some believe
belongs to the typical cop. Only the year before, police-
men like him in the Phoenix area investigated 83 mur-
ders, 301 rapes, 1,583 robberies, 2,567 assaults, and
18,295 burglaries. Daryl Henry and his partner investi-
gated more than their share of 6,024 automobile thefts
and 12,000 cases of larceny involving sums of $50 or
more.
Seldom will his hard, routine work come to the public's
attention — the sometimes fruitless months devoted to
gathering evidence against a criminal, for example.
"We're not television personalities," Daryl says, even
though some of his assignments are of the same nature
as those dramatized by actors. "Our lives — most of the
time — aren't very exciting. We like to think that our mere
presence in a high-crime area is some deterrent, but we
can't be everywhere at once.
"Of course, we become depressed when a guilty per-
son goes free. Jail sentences, when they are leveled, are
sometimes too light. Yet we know that there are not
enough jails to house all the criminals who should be
there. And we know that the jails we do have don't have
the right kind of programs to redirect inmates into better
lives."
Most of Patrolman Henry's work, like that of many
another cop, involves such routine matters as reports of
stolen or abandoned automobiles, traffic tickets or cita-
tions, and burglary investigations.
"Sometimes we are frustrated because things simply
don't fall into place," he says. "Some days every lead we
follow ends up in a blind alley. But then tomorrow,
everything may click."
30
November 1972 TOGETHER
A policeman has to let tomorrow take care of itself.
He knows that sooner or later the squad-car radio will
come to life to report a knifing, a holdup, a man with a
gun, a beating, or a barroom fight. Much of the violence
in Phoenix, as elsewhere, seems to be concentrated in
low-income areas. Here one senses the repressed hostility
and anger that often explodes; here one finds the hope-
lessness of the drug addict, the unemployed and unem-
ployable, the alcoholics of a skid row, the friendless and
forsaken.
At the same time, Daryl Henry knows that crime is not
confined to inner-city ghettos. It also is widespread,
though dispersed, in affluent residential sections of the
city and county.
"Sometimes," he says, "we have to make up our minds
within seconds or minutes in a situation that requires
weeks or months for a judge or jury."
No one is more aware of the thinness of the blue — or
khaki — line standing between the average citizen and
those who would prey upon him. He knows that many
who say "sir" to his face will call him "fuzz" or "pig"
behind his back. Yet his vow as a law-enforcement officer
is to "safeguard lives and property, to protect the inno-
cent against deception, the weak against oppression or
intimidation, and the peaceful against violence and dis-
order." At the same time he must respect the rights of
everyone — including the criminal — to "liberty, equality,
and justice."
The honest cop is as aware as anyone that law en-
forcement has its share of misfits, sadists, and oppor-
tunists. He knows where the easy money is, and it is
there for the taking. Such corruption has been uncovered
time and again in every part of the nation. It also is
found in law, politics, banking, business — in fact, every
other walk of life. The honest career man in law enforce-
ment is so dedicated that he refuses to accept the small-
est of gratuities — including, in the case of Daryl Henry
and his partner, the offer of Together's photographer to
pay for their coffee.
"I think Daryl sees his job as a service to his fellow-
man and community — and thus his Christian service,"
says his pastor, the Rev. E. Clark Robb of Albright United
Methodist Church in Phoenix. But, the minister points
out, that role does not end when Daryl puts his uniform
and gun away.
"Donna and Daryl are simply a beautiful Christian cou-
ple," Mr. Robb says. "They are active in the young-adult
program of the church. Daryl is treasurer of the local
chapter of United Methodist Men, and Donna is active
in the women's society and church school."
Donna traces their active church life and spiritual re-
birth to "vows we took at the altar together as Christians
five years ago." Despite her concern for her husband's
safety, as implied in her letter to the Republic-Gazette
she declares:
"I have the comfort that many wives of policemen
do not have — knowing that Daryl has accepted Christ."
When her husband joined the police force in 1967, a
representative from the department called on her to
point out that the familv oi any policeman often is sub
jected to stress and harassment. Should such ever be the
//)c minute he steps into the
whether or not he 'us had a hard da)
says Donna Henr) 'And <i my da
too easy, he pitches in an</ helps around the h
Oar) I is a \ er) kind and i onsidei ite
Nov. 'UK
case, Donna believes her faith in Cod would see her
through.
Although Daryl often "moonlights" the 16 extra hours
a week permitted by his department, the Henrys live
quietly. They occasionally go out to a nice restaurant, or
take their children on an outing. Together they attended
a Lay Institute for Evangelism in 1971, and continue to
devote much of their spare time to witnessing before
young people.
"I'll do anything I can, all that I can, to keep even
one teen-ager from making a mistake that could lead
to a life of trouble," says Donna who has served as a
counselor at a Senior High Decisions Camp for the past
two years. "Not so long ago I was a teen-ager myself so
I don't find it hard to relate to that age group."
Daryl grew up a member of the former Evangelical
United Brethren Church, completed three years of col-
lege, and was working as assistant manager of a pizza
parlor in Phoenix when he met his wife-to-be. He has
little time for hobbies other than reading and softball.
Like most policemen, he has an occasional bad day.
"I can tell the minute he comes home whether things
have gone well during his shift," Donna says. She knew
something was wrong one afternoon last April when her
husband came through the door without his usual smile.
Earlier, he and his partner had answered an urgent call
to an apartment building. As they arrived, a seriously
wounded man staggered from the building and fell into
the front seat of the squad car. Behind him came a
woman with a gun. After the woman was disarmed, the
two officers drove the shooting victim to a hospital.
It wasn't pleasant to clean up the squad car after that,
and there was blood on Daryl Henry when he reached
home. Such things are all in a day's work for a beat cop,
but Daryl Henry wanted nothing to eat that night.
What does Donna Henry think about such things? She
said it in the conclusion of her letter to the newspaper:
". . . I thank God for men like him . . . Some call him
'pig!' I call him a loving husband and a valuable human
being." □
Unable to eat after the blessing at dinner, Daryl rests his head on one hand as though attempting
to rub out the memory of a shooting that day which left its seriously wounded victim bleeding profusely in his
squad car. Policemen face many such tragedies during their careers — and some can never be forgotten.
32
November 1972 TOGETHER
OPEN PULPIT
"But while he was yet at a distance, his father
saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced
him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father,
I have sinned against heaven and before you;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But
the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the
best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his
hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf
and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for
this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was
lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry."
—Luke 15:20-24
Parent
to the
Prodigal
By C KING DUNCAN, JR.
Pastor, United Methodist Church
Lookout Mountain, Tennessee
T WAS NOT an easy thing for the father to do —
swallow his pride and rush out to meet his wayward
son. Often in his mind he had pondered what he
would do if and when his son should return home. There
were times when he felt he would give him a sound
thrashing.
It was a merciless thing that his son had done. For
years the boy's father and mother had worked and saved
so that someday they would be able to turn over to the
boy a great inheritance. How did he thank them? By
taking the inheritance and leaving home as soon as he
was able, and there had not been a word from him in
all the months he had been gone.
The strain was starting to show on his mother. Each
morning she would rise and peer expectantly out a
window in the direction he had gone to see if he might
be coming home.
There were other times when the father felt an entirely
different emotion. In the loneliness of his room during
his evening prayer the weight of the years seemed heavier
and the sense of accomplishment that he once felt about
his life now seemed empty and futile. From the innermost
part of his breast came a prayer, "O God, please bring
my boy home. Things will be different from now on.
I'll be more attentive to him — even try to understand him.
But please! bring my boy home."
What is it like to be the parent of a prodigal? There
are hundreds and thousands of parents in this country
today who could give you a very personal answer. For
every youth aimlessly wandering the streets of New York
or San Francisco, Atlanta or Chattanooga, there are
parents — some of them seemingly unconcerned to be
sure — in the depths of despair over their young son or
daughter who has left home in search of a whole new
realm of experience.
What is it like to be the parent of a prodigal? There
are some who know all too well. Perhaps their son or
daughter has never actually left home. One does not
have to leave the physical confines of his parents' home
to become a prodigal. New habits, new friends, new
attitudes — and soon a normal generation gap becomes an
ever-widening gulf. And the parent of the prodigal waits,
watches, and prays.
There are some things which all of us ought to
recognize about prodigals.
First, we need to understand that young people are
going to make mistakes. This should not be a difficult
proposition to accept for two reasons. One. because they
arc people Admit now, you make mistakes I make mis-
takes. All God's children make mistakes. r/0 err is
November 1973 lOCFTHiR u
human," someone has said, "to forgive, divine." Our
youth are going to make mistakes simply because they
are human beings.
Secondly, they are going to make mistakes because
they are young. Being a teen-ager has always been
difficult. Go back to the time when you were at that
stage of life. Remember the desires, the pressures, the
guilt, the loneliness, the longings that are unique to that
stage of human development? Imagine dealing with
those intense feelings within the context of a society
such as ours today. Is there any wonder that some of
our youth are going to stumble and fall from time to time?
Our young people are going to make errors. I wish
it were not the case. I wish that none of our young
people would give in to the temptation to experiment
with drugs or with alcohol or even with tobacco since
scientists have shown us how destructive these can be
to our bodies. Some parents could set better examples in
this regard. If they did, at least one stumbling block for
our youth would be removed.
I wish none of our youth would pick the wrong kind
of friends, start going steady too early or with the wrong
kind of person. I wish none of them would be irrespon-
sible with a car, flunk a course in school, or get them-
selves into any kind of trouble. But that is another
sermon altogether.
TODAY the crucial question in many homes is, How
does a parent respond to the very natural and human
mistakes of their young? Some parents are horrified
at the slightest manifestation of any sort of deviation by
their teen-ager from the parents' own attitudes or life-
styles. Sharp words are exchanged. The dinner table
becomes a battlefield for debate. Hurt feelings result,
and then these same parents wonder why their teen-
agers do not come to them when they have serious prob-
lems to resolve. Begin by admitting and accepting the
fact that young people are going to make mistakes.
The second point to be made is that most prodigals
do come home. The first proposition is a call to accept
fallibility in our young, but the second is a call to keep
faith in our young. The truth is if we have been the kind
of parents we ought to have been, sooner or later our
young are going to show it.
I like the story about the little boy who told his
Sunday-school class the parable of the prodigal son. It
went something like this: "He sold his coat to buy food.
He sold his shirt to buy food. He sold his undershirt to
buy food. And finally he came to himself." The truth of
the matter is, given the opportunity, most young people
will come to themselves.
Psychologists have been affirming for years what the
Scriptures reported centuries ago: "Train up a child in
the way he should go, and when he is old he will not
depart from it." Do you believe that? I do. Parents of
prodigals ought to look first at themselves. It may be that
we have not lived what we have taught. There are some
young people who cannot respect themselves because
they cannot respect those closest to them.
Parents of prodigals who look carefully at themselves
may discover that some changes are in order. But if a
parent can say from the depths of his or her heart, "I
have done the best I could," then he or she ought to
take heart. Have confidence in that young person to
whom you have given your best. Have confidence, show
confidence, and more than likely your efforts will be
rewarded.
It just may be that your child has accepted more of
your highest ideals than you have accepted. I am amused
in an ironic sort of way at parents who teach their small
children that wonderful little kindergarten song, "Jesus
loves the little children, all the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his
sight . . ." and then wonder why their teen-agers are so
uptight about racial brotherhood.
The same can be said for parents who are faithful in
teaching their children the great commandment, "You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with
all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." Then we
wonder why our young have such disturbing questions
about war. Remember! Most prodigals come home.
Finally, let nothing break the relationship between
you and the prodigal child. You need each other. Paul
phrased the depth of God's love for his people this way:
". . . neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord."
Is that not also the love we are to have for our chil-
dren? Do not let anything break that relationship. I appeal
to both sides of the generation gap. This sermon could
just as easily be entitled Child to the Prodigal Parent.
Parents, too, make mistakes. Keep the lines of communi-
cation open. Accept one another's frailties. Have faith in
each other.
There were times when my parents knew what being
parents to a prodigal was like because I made nearly
every mistake a growing young man could make. How-
ever, as I look at my life, I see how much I owe to
parents who refused to give up on me.
Youth will make mistakes. All of us do. But more
often than not, the prodigal will come home. Have
confidence. Trust in God and believe in youth. More
important, let nothing break the unique relationship
between you and your children.
Prayer: Father, as you love us, so may we love one
another. As you accept us just as we are, so may we
accept one another. As you are always the forgiving
father waiting to welcome home the prodigal, so may we
forgive one another, that our homes may be blessed and
your name glorified. Amen. □
34
November 1972 TOGETHER
*******
-
'llnv come
|J
I /
I, . I
I All Mv,U.
fiffi :
. i. - - .0
In an imperfect world, do you expect perfection in the church? And if the church
does not reflect your own opinions or prejudices, do you attempt to strike back? Here's a letter-
To George, Who
Canceled His Pledge
By WILLIAM H. HUDNUT, JR.
An Interchurch Feature originated by Presbyterian Lite
and adapted for use in Together. Copyright © 1970 by
Presbyterian Life; used by permission.
A FRIEND of mine jnd his wife just returned from .1 fong
and expensive vacation in Hawaii. He told me, with
considerable self -approval, thai he had canceled his
pledge to his church and that the reason was thai he
felt it was the only way he could protest against the
man) church policies with which he disagreed. He felt
ocrTiuR |5
that the church is being run, if not by Communists, at
least by fellow travelers, and that there are other causes
today more Christian — and more deserving of support —
than the church. We had a long talk; but afterward, as is
often the case, I was dissatisfied with our conversation,
and I wrote him what I wish I had said:
Pastor's Study
First Church
Dear George:
You are typical of more than a few affluent members
who have reduced or discontinued their giving to their
church. In their opinion that is the only effective form
of protest open to them against some of the church's
policies. I respect your right to disagree with your church,
of course, but I do not feel that cutting your pledge is
a well-grounded or appropriate form of protest.
For one thing, canceling a pledge is not really an
effective way of changing a policy; it doesn't accomplish
your objective. You want to hit the National Council of
Churches, the World Council of Churches, or some
general church board or agency, and you just cannot do
it in this way. Your shotgun approach will not find your
targets. In trying to hurt them, which you do to a slight
extent, you hurt all the causes in our church's budget
in which you do believe so your protest actually misses
its mark.
Please remember that you could be wrong. There is
something disturbingly self-righteous and judgmental
about the attitude of many of the church's critics. It's
easy to criticize and to stop giving to what is being
criticized. But the facts may not be as you understand
or interpret them. It's important to get one's facts straight.
Without a careful study of the matter about which you
are protesting, a study which impatient critics are often
unwilling to make, you really are not prepared to offer
a reasoned judgment.
A case in point: more than 1,600 alumni of the college
I attended withdrew their subscriptions and many others
reduced theirs, largely in protest against coeducation.
Most of them were older graduates who set themselves
up as champions of the pre-World War II status quo;
they were unwilling to trust the considered judgment
of the present faculty, administration, trustees, and stu-
dents. The withdrawal of the contributions hurts, of
course, and the graduates' protest is heard, obviously;
but the policy will not be changed, which was their
professed objective. Their failure to give represents pique
at losing out rather than any real attempt to improve
the university.
The same sort of attitude may be festering inside those
who are withdrawing their support from the church. They
won't play ball unless the game can be played according
to their rules, and when the decision goes against them,
they quit the game. It never seems to occur to them that
their rules might be uninformed, inadequate, or obsolete.
Canceling your pledge to the church of Christ would
seem to be denying the tremendous need of the world
for his gospel. Of course the church has its faults, many
of them. Of course it makes mistakes, plenty of them.
Of course it goes astray, often. But above and beyond
all this it has work to do: helping God create Christlike
character in individuals and brotherhood in society. That
is the most important work in the world, and withholding
funds from the church in these days of enormous need
is helping to sabotage the building of God's kingdom.
It certainly is not obeying Christ's command to "Go into
all the world and preach the gospel to the whole
creation."
One way to test the wisdom of our acts is to uni-
versalize them. Ask yourself, "What if every member cut
his pledge to the church?" The church's work and witness
would be immeasurably handicapped, and I am sure
that this is not your objective, that you don't really want
to weaken the church. You want it to be stronger, better,
more effective than it is, do you not? But how is with-
drawing your support going to bring these changes about?
If we were to support only those institutions with
which we entirely agree, we would indeed not support
many, including the government. I can remember your
vociferous opposition over the years to many things
the government has done or failed to do. How you
opposed F.D.R.'s court-packing plan; how skeptical you
have always been of our country's participation in the
United Nations; how you agonized over the Senate's
failure to confirm certain presidential appointments; how
you have loathed every evidence of black power, student
protest, and the like and have felt that the government
should "crack down on these rabble-rousers!" If you had
not had to pay taxes, I fear your contribution to the
government would long ago have been canceled al-
together.
All this simply goes to show, I should think, that if we
would be competent and effective citizens in a pluralistic
society, we are therefore bound to support many in-
stitutions — like the government — with which we do not
wholly agree, but which, nevertheless, are indispensable.
Please remember that the only supporters our church
has are its members. We cannot turn to the government
or to corporations or to the community chest. We cannot
expect Roman Catholics, Jews, Episcopalians, Mormons,
or atheists to help us. Making our church an effective
participant in the worldwide Christian enterprise is some-
thing that is squarely up to us, and this cannot be
accomplished on a no-pledge basis. The day in which
we live and the Christian cause which we serve cry aloud
for ever-widening views, ever-expanding endeavors, and
ever-increasing support. It is when good men do little
or nothing that the cause of evil prospers. The respon-
sibility of the Christian is not to approve every act of
the church but to decide whether on the whole it is
true to its Lord, whether by and large it is building his
Kingdom. Mistakes will inevitably be made in tactics, but
these can be borne if the overall strategy is right.
Beyond all these observations, let me say that the
church really does need support today as seldom before.
The secularism, the brutality, and the idolatry of this age
present the church with one of the most serious chal-
lenges it has ever faced. The plain fact of the matter is
that the church has very few friends left. One of our
chief indoor sports is criticizing the church, and the
church is vulnerable at many points. It must often speak
the unpopular word and do the controversial deed in its
witness to God's truth. It must champion "the poor and
him who has no helper." It must endure withering fire
from the reactionary right and the radical left, from the
secularist, the agnostic, and the playboy. Many of its
friends are deserting; fewer men are going into the
36
November 1972 TOGETHER
pastorate; fewer people are joining the church; fewer
children are going to Sunday school.
But simply pointing out the church's failures will get
us nowhere. Who among us is immune to failure? How
blithely we use the church as a convenient scapegoat for
our own shortcomings. It is so terrifyingly easy to deni-
grate the church, to treat it as a whipping boy, so fashion-
able to look down upon it and call it passe, so avant-
garde to discuss it as no longer relevant to modern life,
no longer possessed of a message of any consequence
or a mission of any significance.
Sometimes even those who are supposed to be its
spiritual leaders speak with an uncertain voice as did a
theology professor I heard not long ago. He tore his hair
and pulled at his Adam's apple, contorted his features and
waved his arms until he was in a lather and so was I. But
not one encouraging word was heard for the church of
Christ.
The professor's talk was indefinite, perplexed, and
vacillating, filled with confusion and doubt and delicately
balanced on the verge of manifold possibilities, never
contemplating a leap of faith that would land him square-
ly on one positive assertion. All that clearly came through
was his profound disenchantment with the church.
Why is it that so often we Christians tend to dissociate
ourselves from the church, to criticize it as though it
were somehow a separate entity and "they" were respon-
sible for it? We are the church, right here and now; we
are responsible, under God, for its present and its future.
"The church is always," as someone has said, "a citadel
of hope built upon the edge of despair." And in these
days as seldom before, it needs our support. We must
hold up its hands, encourage it to speak the truth,
defend its right to make mistakes, and try to keep it
true to its Lord. Henry Ward Beecher used to say, "The
church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent
Christians but a school for the education of imperfect
ones." And how right he was.
The great thing about the Christian church, for all its
faults, is that through it God is continually inviting us
to meet him out in the world and to change it. He keeps
telling us through the church that life is not a mindless
farce or a cruel tragedy but that it has meaning, that our
earth is a visited planet, that the trail to abundant living
has already been blazed. Too often we forget all this
and imagine that God is dead and that we are going
it alone, without any invisible means of support. Not at
all. Christ has trod the path before us, the road is marked,
and the church is traveling upon it — not as fast as some
would like, faster perhaps than you like, but moving
nonetheless, and trying to help society move, toward
the brotherhood of man. Make as much of the church's
defects as you will. Still it is the preserver, the defender,
and the propagator of the Christian faith, which I believe
is the one clear hope of our despairing humanity.
Do you really want to withdraw support from that? □
The Case of the Kinetic Dollar Bill
IT HAPPENED one morning as the
ushers arrived at the chancel with
the offering plates. The plates
were full of envelopes, registration
cards, and reservation slips for the
next church-night supper. (It's sur-
prising what you find in the collec-
tion these days.)
As our pastor was receiving a plate
from one of the ushers, a dollar bill
sprang back into the hand of the
usher who promptly tossed it back
into the plate. The dollar bill jumped
right back into his hand! If the pastor
had not collared it, the bill would
have sailed right back to the door ot
the church with the usher.
After that we decided we mighl
have to appoint a commission to put
a stop to dollar bills thai will not
stay on the plate.
The scientists among us came up
with what we consider an improbable
explanation. "Static electricity," they
said, looking very profound. "From
the carpet," they declared. "Static
electricity is worse than a magnet. It
attracted the dollar bill to the usher's
hand."
We have heard of static elec-
tricity, of course, but we have our
own explanation of why the dollar
bill wanted to leave the collection
plate.
A dollar bill knows wh.it it can do
when you put it in the plate. Because
it is a Christian dollar bill, there are
a million jobs waiting for it. It can
patch a leaky roof, or pa\ the salary
of the custodian, or keep the lights
turned on.
Because it is a (foliar bill with
imagination it can go around the
world in 80 days, keeping mission
aries at then posts buying powdered
milk foi a hungry family, building a
new theological seminary or printing
the Bible in one of a thousand
tongues You cannot blame a dollar
bill with a mission for not wanting
to wait.
Mas he our kinetic dollar bill had
heard lesus saying to the effect thai
it you are at worship and suddenly
recall someone you have wronged go
and set the wrong right, and then
conic and otter your gilt. Maybe that
dollar bill wanted to gel outside the
church and repair the kind of broken
relationship which can only be
mended by prayer and a generous
heart
From now on we are going to keep
an eye on the dollar bills on our
offering plates. When the next one-
leaps out of the plate we re going
to let it go— and we will follow il
straight out the door, whatever its
mission ot goodwill may be.
—Wheaton P Webb
Novwnbai 1973 Tor.nntK
37
Letters
TOO BUSY WITH CHURCH
WORK TO BE CHRISTIAN
Thank You! Thank you! Thank
you! And ameni for printing
Bea Hammond's I'm Through W'fh
Church Work [August-September,
page 34]. It sure did ring a very
familiar note with my experience,
and I appreciate the courage and
time and effort it took to
pu; 'uch "rebellious thoughts"
or paper.
I still remember the reaction
when I confided to one of our
church-pillar-type people that I
had become so busy doing church
work that I didn't have time to be
a Christian anymore. She didn't
understand and now that I'm
older and wiser I wouldn't expect
her to.
Now I pray and work, waiting for
the miracle of salvation to occur
which liberates people from
many things — even "church work."
MRS. R. DAVIDSON
Lancaster, NY.
ON CYCLES FOR TEENS:
WHERE'S THE MONEY BUSH?
Today my copy of the
August-September issue came in
the mail. I know my 1 3 Vi -year-old
son will enjoy the cover picture
and the story inside about Preacher
Bobs Cycle Club [page 30]. But
where, oh where, do those parents
find that extra $600 for a
motorcycle? If it is grown on a
bush in the backyard, please share
a cutting of the root with me.
In return I'll share a copy of
a poem written by my 1 7-year-old
niece, Marlene Tannler of Willingboro,
N.J. I ask you, Mr. Editor, what words
were you using at 1 7? When I read
the words of this poem, I am ashamed
Send your letters to
TOGETHER
1661 N. Northwest Highway
Park Ridge, III. 60068
of my small vocabulary. At 1 7
I didn't even know what "sanctify,"
"stature," and "eminent" meant,
much less put them into verse.
If you would print it, you might
clear the air for us who didn't
care much for that teen version of
the Lord's Prayer you published
last May. (But no offense to the
teen-ager who wanted to change it.)
Here is the poem which my
niece wrote titled Peace:
Disregard all deception,
Demonstrate fruitful deeds,
Develop a worthy outlook,
Satisfy someone's needs.
Sanctify all that is treasured,
Elate in yourself a pride.
Master an eminent stature,
Never to be denied.
Relinquish the thought of loneliness,
Abandon the anguish of pain.
For then within the walls
of your heart will dwell
peace that will always remain.
MRS. JACOB SCHAEFER
Scranion, Pa.
LEADERS OUT OF TOUCH
WITH PEOPLE IN PEWS
The liberal stance of The United
Methodist Church has long troubled
me. The fact that evangelical and
pentecostal churches are growing
while ours, and other established
churches, are experiencing
diminished attendance and support
suggests that others share my concern.
The purpose of this letter is
to take issue with Dr. Ezra Earl
Jones, whose study of extremism
in our church you reported [July,
page 22]. He found that the
laity fall slightly to the right of
center, whereas the clergy are slightly
to the left. Dr. Jones went on to
explain that this could be good
because, to be an effective leader,
a clergyman "must stay a little
out in front of the laity."
To me, this equates a leftist
orientation as the desirable direction
for the laity to move. I could not
disagree more! Each step to the
left saps the vitality from our
church as well as from our country.
If majority rules in The United
Methodist Church, then the
"leaders" are too far out of touch
with the people in the pews to
ever be effective — without
heart-searching modification of
their leftist views.
MRS. HAROLD T. EVERSON
Glastonbury, Conn.
THERE ARE WAYS
TO EXPRESS DISAPPROVAL
I hope Dr. Ezra Earl Jones is
badly mistaken in his survey finding
that 73 percent of our laity
support the government in its
Viet Nam policy and that an even
larger percentage are gullible
enough to think that Mr. Nixon is
leading us to peace.
Be that as it may, those of us
who chafe under the realization
that we can do little should not give
up too easily. There are ways
you can express your disapproval.
None of us does enough, but I
fried today when I mailed my check
in payment of my telephone bill.
Along with it I sent a letter in
protest to the federal excise tax
of $1.25 on my $13.69 bill. And
I sent copies to the Internal
Revenue Service and to my
congressman and senators.
Many of my friends throughout
the country who feel as I do that
this war is atrocious, unnecessary,
and a shame to our beloved land
are protesting this particular tax
by nonpayment of it. I was dissuaded
from doing this by the argument
that the government would get
the money anyway, with penalty
and interest, and that it would
cause the telephone company's
accountants a nuisance.
I encouraged the telephone
company to keep up efforts to have
the excise tax repealed and urged
the legislators to redouble their
efforts to end the war now — not
with pious phrases about love of
peace, but by getting our bombers
as well as our ground forces
out of Viet Nam.
Imagine the effect of 350
bombing missions a day over an
area no larger than Mr. Nixon's
home state of California! That is
what we are doing in Viet Nam
— and going about our daily
work unconcerned!
LAVERNE E. BASINGER
Quincy, III.
LEADERS' ACTIONS
MAKE HER ASHAMED
I had a most pleasant time
reading the August-September issue
of Together — until I read page 17.
Then I felt ashamed that some
leaders of our church would act
as they did in your news report
on Churches' Antiwar Pleas Rebuffed
in Washington.
To me, our President is a great
man who is carrying a terrific
load of responsibility. Many of us
38
.-mber 1072 TOGETHER
are praying for him regularly
for wisdom, strength, and protection.
He has been plagued so much by
radicals of our society who have
such short memories. They cry
"Take us out of Viet Nam right
now!" They don't seem to
remember who sent our troops
over there in the first place.
When Mr. Nixon became President,
there were 550,000 of our
servicemen in that little country.
Now it is down to 25,000 residual
troops. What a change — and yet
some people are still hollering.
Of all the leading people in our
country, President Nixon is to me
the most outstanding and constructive
in his approach to world peace.
He is guiding our country in a
way we should be proud of. Those
church people who acted so childlike
in their demands to the Senate
should be reprimanded by our
church and all churches.
VELMA E. BAKER
Forf Dodge, Iowa
CAN BLOODBATH BE
JUSTIFIED BY CHRISTIANS?
In concerned response to the
letter of Roy G. Wariner, I would
like to offer another viewpoint.
[See U.S. Air Power or Communist
Bloodletting? August-September,
page 55.]
I urge each Christian to read
The Death of All Children, available
at 10tf per copy from the editors
of Esquire magazine. This article
is a thought-provoking explanation
of what can happen when the
ultimate power to destroy human
life is unleashed.
In Viet Nam, U.S. air power is
synonymous with U.S. bloodletting.
A bomb does not discriminate
between ideologies, age, or sex,
between soldier or civilian.
Surely the practice of mass
destruction cannot be civilized
behavior. Jesus said that we should
love our enemies, by righteous
living provide them an example to
follow. How strange it seems to me
that some can justify a bloodbath
in the name of Christianity.
MRS. LINDA CUMMENS
Makanda, III.
SHE LIKES LETTERS—
EXCEPT FROM ELSEWHERE
Four letters in the July issue
cause me to write to you.
Mr. Albert M. Wildrick is one
among many "tired Methodists." It is
indeed discouraging that the
church is succumbing to that frailty
of other organizations: being
overly critical and far more concerned
about alleviating problems overseas
than in making improvements at
home.
Iva Jane Frohwein and Marvin B.
Sterling echo my sentiments
regarding the Lord's Prayer. It
is disgusting to read the teen
version you printed, hardly a
substitute for the original. I'm
not far removed from the teen scene,
and we don't need teeny-bopper
language for something so beautiful.
Finally, Mrs. Everett McNary makes
some valid and thought-provoking
comments. In "blowing her cool,"
she reveals what many of us have
thought.
Can the Letters from Elsewhere
be phased out? It is absolutely
the worst junk I have seen printed.
Besides the terrible misspellings
and grammatical errors, it is
really a valueless column.
Please feature more cartoons
and some religious jokes. I have
read your magazine since I was
about ten years old and enjoy it
very much. I do hope you heed
your readers' suggestions.
MRS. DON A. MURDOCH
Wood/and, Calif.
We try, Mrs. Murdoch. But it isn't
easy when readers seek opposite re-
sults from their suggestions [see be-
low] . For now, we're staying with
Mr. Goben — and with our associate,
H. Clutter. His Elsewhere report failed
to arrive this month, but we expect
one for December. — Your Editors
IF CLUTTER GOES,
FANS WILL PICKET
I am relieved to see that H.
Clutter's Letters From Elsewhere
have reappeared in summer issues
after his April absence. I fear
that had the column not reappeared,
there would have been picketing
at the editorial offices by the
loyal members of H. Clutter fan
clubs across United Methodism.
DONALD K. GOBEN, Pastor
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
Poseyville, Ind
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Cover Together Staff • Second Cover Douglas
E Pitts • Pages 11-33 -RNS • 14 -Oscars Stud.o
• 15— Bob Smith • 33— RNS • 49 Jim Paxton
• 20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-29-30-31-32-35 Goorgo
P Miller.
Novcmlu-r U7J IOCETHIR .{»»
you Asked...
You Asked is Together's new general question
forum. It replaces both Teens and Your Faith, long-
time Together departments, and is an attempt to
offer a more inclusive question and answer column.
Questions will be accepted on such subjects as the
family, Christian faith, church organization, social
issues, and other matters of concern to Christians.
Bishop Thomas, episcopal head of the Iowa Area,
and Dr. White, district superintendent in the
Southern New England Annual Conference, will
continue to supply answers along with other church
officials and leaders in specialized fields.
— Your Editors
Are evil spirits ever sent by the Lord?
No. They come on their own accord when the
Spirit ot Cod is absent. Fundamentally, evil motives
will always drive out God's Spirit.
— Bishop James S. Thomas
Are families reunited in heaven?
The most honest answer is: Nobody knows. For
many people the agony of a broken family life is
precisely what they do not want to relive. Cod
certainly is more loving than to extend family hap-
piness for some while making it miserable for
others.
Another answer is even more pointed. Whatever
happens to human beings after death is in the
hands of a loving Cod. We keep trying to make
our own conditions for eternal life by imagining
what heaven should be like. But when we think
of how wrong we are about our Utopias on earth,
it is probably merciful for Cod to save us from
our Utopias in heaven.
— Bishop James S. Thomas
I am a girl, 15, and I think I'm a homosexual. What
can I do to change and what caused it to happen?
I've no one to turn to.
I'd like to go to college. Are there booklets avail-
able with listings of United Methodist-related or
other Christian colleges?
Wr.te to the Division of Higher Education, Box 871 ,
Nashville, Tennessee, 37202. They have a direc-
tory of all United Methodist-related colleges. Then
you could write to the schools which interest you
and ask for then catalogs.
— Dale White
I wish you could find someone to talk with. A
professional counselor would be the best. Homo-
sexual fantasies can mean so many different things.
A skilled counselor could help you to understand
their meaning. More important, with a counselor
you could talk through your fears and hostilities.
Feelings get out of focus when you have to keep
them all to yourself.
— Dale White
"And now to my newly enfranchised constituents
40 November 1972 TOGETHER
Will war ever be abolished?
This is one of those great questions that cannot be
answered with a yes or no. As a matter of national
policy, war can be abolished just as institutional
slavery can. To do this it will be necessary for na-
tions to understand that wars have not solved inter-
national problems in the past nor will they solve
them in the future.
Since nations declare wars, the Christian people
of the world must make their voices and influence
clear in the interest of peace. This means the edu-
cating of people in Christian ethics and stalwart
communication in the midst of powerful lobbies.
— Bishop lames S. Thomas
You Asked . . . questions should be submitted to You
Asked Editor, c/o Together, 1661 North Northwest High-
way, Park Ridge, Illinois 60068.
The Jesus Trip: Advent of
the Jesus Freaks
"At least they're not on drugs." "They
are moral." Much is being said re-
garding the Jesus movement. Will it
have lasting significance or is it a fad?
Lowell D. Streiker's vivid first-hand
account is ". . . well worth reading."
— Publishers' Weekly. "One of the best
offered on the subject!" — Bookstore
Journal. Paper, $1.95
and a host of others
Abortion: The Agonizing Decision
David R. Mace. ". . . an extremely well
organized presentation of one of the most
pressing social problems of our day, . . .
Forthright, thoughtful . . ."—Dr. S. H.
Sturgis, former head of OB/GYN Dept,
Harvard Med. School. Cloth, $3.75;
paper, $1.95
Wars and Rumors of Wars
Roger L. Shinn, winner of the 1971
Abingdon Religious Book Award, combines
his WW II combat diary with an en-
lightened 20th-century look at the phe-
nomenon of war. A critical examination
written by one who has been there. $5.95
The Spouse Gap
One fourth of all divorces take place after
15 or more years of marriage. Robert Lee
and Marjorie Casebier show how to over-
come the many crises of the middle years
and have a fuller life together. ". . . rec-
ommended warmly." — Family Life. $4.95
Haircuts and Holiness
If you have ever doubted the reality of any
Christian precept or questioned privately
your true feelings about God, you may
find answers in this extraordinary
book by Louis Cassels. Excellent for group
discussion or private reading. Paper, $1.75
ot your cokesbury bookstore
abingdon
the book publishing deportment of
theuniteamethodist publish .
MIK
41
A
Wonderful
Moment
to
Share
By Stanley Medders
YESTERDAY Grandpa died. Too numb at first even to
mourn, then too deeply hurt to question, I lay awake
through the long and silent night.
It wasn't until this morning when I wandered out to
the vast stretches of tideland that I felt the full depth
and irreparability of our loss. For it was here that he
had passed his wondrous life, here amidst the expanses
of golden-tipped cordgrass, among his beloved birds
and marsh plants, on the land he guarded so zealously
from encroaching "progress."
And it was here that he died. It would have been in-
comprehensible to me had he died in any other place.
I found him in the early morning when Grandma sent
me to get him before his breakfast was cold. He was
lying on one of the innumerable levees he had built to
provide a habitat for "his" thousands of native and
migratory birds.
At first I thought he was merely resting, but then I
saw that his feet were in the brackish slough water.
Rushing over to him, I lifted his head and watched
anxiously as his eyelids fluttered open. But he was look-
ing past me, a smile on his pale lips. Turning to follow
his gaze, I saw a snowy egret alighting in the water.
Grandpa raised his huge frame, relishing to the fullest
even this, his last flicker of life. Slowly he uttered the
words I'd so often heard him say, "Isn't this a wonderful
moment to share, Stan?" And then he was gone.
"A wonderful moment to share . . . ." Every moment
in Grandpa's life had been wonderful, each a precious
time to share with others the marvels of creation.
And no one knew more about the marvels of creation.
From the time I was able to toddle, I grew impatient
with excitement each time I saw him put on his old
"walking jacket." Then, slipping my tiny hand into his,
I'd walk slowly beside him — Grandpa never hurried —
out to the green and golden marshlands, pulsating with a
life whose intimate details I knew before I could read.
"That's the Spartina, cordgrass," Grandpa would say.
"When it decomposes, it releases tiny food particles that
are eaten by microscopic animals, who in turn are eaten
by larger animals, and so on up the chain. Without it,
there wouldn't be much life in our Baylands."
Then, after we had explored the mud flats and sloughs
with their teeming life, we would search for crabs and
tiny bay mussels before beginning our serious bird
watching. This was the part of our outings I liked best.
We watched with equal fascination the awkwardness of
the flushed clapper rail and the graceful flight of the
great blue heron. Sometimes we came across swarming
flocks of avocets and sanderlings, or a solitary Caspian
tern. With each sighting Grandpa displayed the eager-
ness of one making his first amazing discovery.
"Isn't this a wonderful moment to share, Grandpa?"
I'd ask, caught up in his contagious spell of fascination
with life. Then he'd smile down at me from his great
height, his weathered face seeming to hold the very
secret of the universe that made him and me and the
throbbing life around us all one.
In his great respect for all life, Grandpa was deeply
pained when others treated it lightly. Hunters drove him
to distraction, and when their guns began to crack, each
shot seemed to reverberate through his massive body.
"It's senseless slaughter," he fumed, his jaw muscles
twitching. "They won't even eat the birds they kill."
"Now, Jim, don't get yourself all worked up," Grand-
ma pleaded. "As long as men exist there'll be hunters,
tky
■
SBH
Mfl
—
Ai
and there's nothing that you can do about it."
"There is something I can do, Sal, and I'll do it,"
Grandpa said firmly.
And do something he did. Taking the money he had
and what he could borrow from the bank, he bought all
the available land around his farm, land he never planned
to work. But he had his own sanctuary now, conspicu-
ously posted — and gone were the soul-rending booms
of the hunters' guns.
"He's a stubborn man," Grandma said the day after
the hunting episode. "Still, I can't hold his gentleness
against him. Did I ever tell you how he almost took me
back home the day we were married — all because of his
kindness?
"Well, he was bringing me home on the buckboard
after we were married in Burlingame. The farther we
traveled, the sadder I became. When we reached this
desolate-looking marshland, I felt I'd made a horrible
mistake, and I was sniveling like the 16-year-old I was.
Jim turned to me, and I've never seen such a hurt look
on any man's face. But he didn't say a word. He simply
turned the buckboard around and headed back toward
Burlingame.
" 'I won't bring you here if you're not ready to come
with me, Sal,' he said, just as if he could read my mind.
'I was honest with you when I told you how it was out
here. I love you, but I won't force you to live where you
won't be happy.'
"You know, Stan, to this day I haven't felt anything
but happiness. Your grandpa has that way about him."
I knew exactly what Grandma meant. Often, hurt by
a friend's perverse behavior, I walked moodily the three
miles from our house to my grandparents'. Seeing my
face, Grandpa began preparing the therapy that cured
any ill, real or imagined — he put on his walking jacket
and we headed for the marshes.
That is, all except one time. I've long since forgotten
what the self-pity was all about that day, but I'll never
forget the look on Grandpa's face.
"Of all the ways to waste time, Stan," he said, "feeling
sorry for yourself is the most unproductive and self-
defeating." And his voice was more gentle than stern.
His face, though, showed all the disappointment and
disHplief He felt at discovering someone who wasted
his time on self-pity when the miracles of life lay all
around him.
Often, during my formative years, I'd find Grandpa
behind the plow. I was with him in the field one day,
relishing the coolness of the moist furrow on my bare
feet when two men drove up. Picking their way gingerly
across the freshly plowed rows, they approached Grand-
pa and me, smiling and flushed.
Always happy to have company, Grandpa wrapped
the mule's reins around the plow handle and held out
his hand. "Come on up to the house," he said warmly.
"I'll have Sal fix some coffee."
But the two men shook their heads, their faces serious.
"We don't have time, Mr. Cavender. We've come to
talk business." And they hurriedly presented their offer —
one hundred dollars an acre for a thousand acres of his
land to be filled for an airport.
Grandpa shook his head slowly, the twinkle still in his
blue eyes. "Gentlemen," he said firmly, "I wouldn't sell
my land for one thousand dollars an acre."
"But Mr. Cavender," one of the men sputtered. "With
the money we're offering you, you could fill all your
land and have a large, productive truck farm instead of
the measly 20 acres you're working. And you could pur-
chase modern machinery." His face was as red as one of
our marsh crabs, and he stared at my grandfather's reso-
lute eyes in disbelief.
"Good-day, gentlemen," Grandpa said, and although
his voice was still friendly, I could tell by his twitching
jaw muscles that the conversation had ended.
"Fill my land!" he mumbled later as we walked along
the tidal flats. "This land will never be touched while I'm
alive, and I trust it won't be after I'm gone. Because
you see, Stan, the land doesn't belong to us. It belongs
to them." His arm swept out across the lush marsh
grass which concealed its myriad forms of wildlife.
"Didn't they offer you a lot of money, Grandpa?" I
asked.
"Of all the perversities man is plagued with," he said
slowly, "greed for money, at the expense of anything
or anyone, is just about the basest." I had to turn my
eyes away from his steady gaze, ashamed that such a
thought had entered my mind.
To Grandpa, any extra money was for one purpose
only: to help those who didn't have any. One evening
just at twilight he was sitting on the front porch reading
the newspaper when I saw something I'd never seen
before: tears rolling down his cheeks. Then, later in the
evening, I heard him talking with Grandma.
"What would we do with new living-room furniture
anyway, considering all the mud I bring in?" he asked.
He was gone when I woke up, and Grandma told me
at breakfast that he'd driven into town.
"He read about a home for blind children in San
Jose," she said proudly, "and he went in to see what he
could do to help."
I knew how long Grandma had been saving for the
furniture, but what Grandpa had wanted to do with the
money was far more important. When he returned, he
had two blind children with him. Taking them out to the
russet marshlands, he described, with as much anima-
tion and detail as if this were his first time, the beauties
of every living thing around him. And each weekend
thereafter he brought two more children out to the farm.
I knew then that the only tears I'd ever seen him shed
were because these children couldn't see the things
that were his very life.
Yet, in my child's heart, I resented the moments they
took away from my own precious time with Grandpa.
And though he said nothing for many weeks, I knew
Grandpa was well aware of my feelings.
One morning we found a fuzzy clapper rail chick that
had wandered from its mother's nest. It took us several
hours to find a well-concealed clapper nest, far from
where we had found the chick. Yet, when Grandpa
placed the black fluff on the ground, it rushed over to
the pickleweed, and the mother rail welcomed the
errant babe.
"Isn't it wonderful how elastic love is?" Grandpa said.
"No matter how many we love, we can always stretch
our hearts out to receive one more." And his eyes looked
deep into mine.
From that moment, I not only welcomed the blind
children, I helped Grandpa open to their dark world
the wonderful colors of the tidelands he so unselfishly
shared with me.
While in high school I didn't get out to Grandpa's as
often as I wanted to. When I did go, a week before
graduation, I waited with all my childhood anticipation
as he put on his walking jacket. While we ambled along,
skirting the shimmering tidal pools, I talked eagerly of
my recently awarded honors: I had the highest grade
average and had been chosen class valedictorian.
As I talked excitedly, Grandpa was quiet, amusement
in his deep blue eyes.
"I'm almost as proud of you as you seem to be of
yourself," he said at last, his eyes twinkling.
I was able to hold his gaze for only a few moments
before I burst out laughing. Then I put my arm around
his still square shoulders, and we continued our walk
toward a slough where two cormorants had just
swooped down.
"Isn't this a wonderful moment to share, Grandpa?"
I said, winking, and his eyes sparkled in his weather-
worn face. . . .
But this morning as I walk through the marshlands all
light seems suddenly subdued. The sky hangs low over
the distant salt grass, and a momentary hush falls over
the tidelands — just as if all life here knew that Grandpa
would never again walk the levee tops.
Then a foam white egret skims a slough surface and
the plaintive cry of a killdeer breaks the silence.
As if on key, the rails begin their raucous clatter, and
the marshland commences to throb with life. Suddenly
a gentle breeze bends the golden heads of cordgrass,
like a giant hand caressing creation.
Grandpa's presence is here in everything he left be-
hind him — and especially in me and in the awakening
curiosity of my young son. And of all the things he left,
I know the most wonderful is his legacy of love, for his
love was power and his power was love.
When Grandma appears, holding my son by a
chubby finger, I seize his other eager hand and the
three of us stroll along the well-worn paths. The won-
ders of the marshland unfold before us and a giant
presence is in everything we behold . . . another won-
derful moment to share. □
44
November 1972 TOGETHER
Kaleidoscope
OUR WORLD is colored, perhaps even more than we
know, by the kaleidoscopic impressions of reality — and
unreality — reflected on television screens, motion-picture
film, and printed pages, or that come to us through music,
the theater, and other art forms.
Kaleidoscope is our attempt to put some Christian
focus on these shifting, fragmented impressions.
Televi/ion
One evening long ago on a Kansas street I shook
hands with Alfred M. Landon. Our little town was a stop
in his campaign for governor — a campaign he won,
although he lost his race for the presidency later.
We high-school students in the crowd were awed by
the sight of a man who might become governor — stu-
dents were awed easily then — but I didn't get any real
impression of Mr. Landon. That had to wait until just
a few years ago when television brought us that salty
gentleman in a dual interview with Harry Truman.
Through the courtesy of today's television screens, this
year's candidates are showing up in our living rooms
more often than some of the family. With such familiarity
you'd think we could be more sophisticated in our
voting decisions.
Maybe. But there are some booby traps.
Like everybody else, I think I can tell how honest a
politician is by the way he squirms or stays calm when
he is pinned to the wall by reporters' questions. But
courtroom lawyers learned long ago that the witness who
hesitates, squirms, and even contradicts himself may be
an honest man. It's liars who are experienced in looking
you straight in the eye and giving you a glib answer.
Some people have great television personalities, and
others don't. John F. Kennedy did, and was elected
president in 1960. Richard Nixon didn't, and he learned
then how important it was. By 1968 he was making
determined efforts to be warm, humorous, and folksy on
camera, and he won. This time around things are more
even for him. George McGovern often comes over pretty
bland unless he is forced into a corner.
In spite of Mr. Nixon's stiffness before the cameras, no
President of the United States has ever made more
dramatic appearances on TV than he did during his
history-making visits to Peking and Moscow. Certainly
these were legitimate news events, and nobody could
call them political campaigning, but they have had an
incalculable political effect, just the same.
Actually, the party in power always has the advantage,
as far as free television time is concerned. Under what
the Federal Communications Commission calls its "fair-
ness doctrine," a broadcasting station that gives free time
to one political candidate is required to give free equal
time to every other candidate for the same office. But
whether an officeholder is speaking solely because his
office requires it or at least partly as a political cam-
paigner is a moot question, and there are a lot of hot
debates over equal time.
Another variable: all communications media have a
habit of going where the action is. But if live reports
of a demonstration distract the public eye from more
solid representative action, they result in distorted empha-
sis. Even more than print media, television is susceptible
to choosing action because TV is a visual medium. The
strict time frame in which it has to operate gives it prob-
lems in reporting all the news, too.
The networks' 1972 election coverage has been affected
noticeably by the vice-president's frequent attacks on
"network bias" and "liberal eastern commentators." In
reality most commentators have always tried to stick to
the journalistic ethic of reporting the facts without
personal bias, and they do a much better job than most
people realize. But the vice-president's criticism has put
them on notice that what one man sees as a fact may
look like an opinion to somebody else. And commenta-
tors, as well as news directors and station managers, are
painfully aware that when a station's license comes up
for renewal, the decision is made by a government
agency.
With all this, TV is a big help in deciding who we
want to vote for. But we still have to weigh all the
campaign appearances, promises, and posturings against
the records of the parties and the candidates. That is hard
work, if we do it right, but Christians can be sure it's
the Lord's work.
The New Found Land, NBC, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 10 p.m.
(EST), about the discovery and early exploration of North
America, is the first episode in America, a 13-part color
series scheduled for alternate Tuesdays.
Preparing for the series has taken host-narrator Alistair
Cooke into more sections of the United States than most
widely traveled Americans have gone. Coproduced by
the British Broadcasting Corporation and Time-Life
Films, America will be sponsored by Xerox Corporation.
Print
During the first half of 1972, the level of television
viewing in America climbed to 6 hours and 16 minutes
a day. In spite of all this watching, few of us have any
idea what the television industry is really like.
Investigative journalist Martin Mayer has turned out a
balanced, informative book on it in About Television
(Harper & Row, $10).
The old and new politics contrast sharply in The
Consent of the Governed and Other Deceits (little
Brown, $fl.9 r >) and Winning Elections: A Handbook in
Participatory Politics (Swallow Press $6). lhe lust, by
Niiwmln-r 1972 lOCI 1HI K
45
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veteran Washington correspondent
Arthur Krock, is an anecdotal report
on how our elected representatives
act when they get to the nation's
capital. It is a knowledgeable study
of power.
The second book, by young inde-
pendent Chicago alderman Dick
Simpson, tells independent voters
how to organize and defy the two-
party system. His own election is the
case that proves his point. The victory
was over the powerful Cook County
Democratic machine headed by
Richard J. Daley.
"I also know I must try not to feel
more sorry for myself than for Noah,
but some days I forget."
Novelist Josh Greenfeld's second
son, Noah, is hauntingly beautiful.
And he is an autistic child, shut away
in his own world, hearing only what
he wants to hear, communicating
only when he cares to.
A Child Called Noah (Holt Rinehart
Winston, $5.95) is Mr. Greenfeld's
diary of Noah's first five years. It is a
movingly honest record of pain, dis-
appointment, frustration, and love.
When French author Simone de
Beauvoir was asked to describe her
reason for writing The Coming of Age
(Putnam, $10), she sent a long note
to her publisher.
"Are the old really human beings?
Judging by the way our society treats
them, the question is open to doubt.
Since it refuses them what they con-
sider the necessary minimum, and
since it deliberately condemns them
to extreme poverty, to slums, to ill
health, loneliness and despair, it as-
serts that they have neither the same
needs nor the same rights as other
members of the community . . . The
aged man is the Venerable Sage who
planes high above this mundane
sphere. He is an old fool, wandering
in his dotage. He may be placed
above our kind or below it; but in
either event he is banished from it,
excluded. But what is thought an even
better policy than dressing up the
facts is that of taking no notice of
them whatsoever — old age is a
shameful secret, a forbidden subject."
With The Coming of Age, it is a
secret no more. This monumental
book is a veritable encyclopedia of
information about aging. And it is
written with power and great com-
passion.
"Is Jesus Christ relevant to con-
temporary society? I believe the wis-
dom and compassion demanded to
solve any of today's personal societal
problems cannot be found in any
person or place other than in the
power of God, working through a
man. Such committed men can make
the dramatic difference."
Such a committed man is U.S.
Senator Mark O. Hatfield, who made
that statement, and the senator be-
lieves in putting his commitment into
words. He has addressed numerous
evangelical conferences, and now he
has set forth what he believes in the
book Conflict and Conscience (Word,
$4.95). This volume reflects the
Oregon senator's commitment to a
Christian faith that demands involve-
ment through responsible social and
political outreach.
Adults take fairy tales for granted,
but to the child who hasn't heard
them they are as new as if they
were being told for the first time.
A new edition of The Ugly Duck-
ling (Abelard-Schuman, $4.38) is a
work of art, as well. The German
translation of the beloved Hans Chris-
tian Andersen story has been edited
by Phyllis Hoffman, and the duckling
and his disdainful brothers and sister
are brought to life in pictures that
could hang in a gallery. Josef Palecek
was the artist.
Another extremely beautiful book
for children, and also about a bird,
is The Boy and the Bird (John Day,
$3.95), by Tamao Fujita. It has been
translated from the Japanese by
Kiyoko Tucker and illustrated with
evocative paintings by Chiyo Ono.
This is the story of a little boy who
set his caged bird free to enjoy the
delights of the country and then
searched despairingly for him. The
story is allowed to end happily, and
on the last page we find boy and
bird back together again.
Film/
A recent ad in the show-business
trade paper Variety predicted that
film makers are going to be produc-
ing more films for general audiences.
This will be a welcome relief, and
we hope that some current pictures
do mark a trend in that direction.
46
November 1972 TOGETHER
Now at your
bookstore
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riSfifrV
Sounder (C) — "You lose some of
the time what you go after, but you
lose all of the time what you don't
go after," a black sharecropper tells
his son in this powerful drama of a
year in the life of a family. The year
is a Depression year, and the
Morgans' goal is existence itself.
Their struggle for it celebrates the
power of love and laughter and the
resilience that lie deep within human
beings who have faith in themselves
and each other. As the film ends,
young David Lee Morgan, played by
13-year-old Kevin Hooks, is setting
out from the family he adores to get
an education so he can make some-
thing of himself — for himself, for his
people, for all people.
The story is based on an award-
winning children's book, but this is
not simply a child's film. In fact small
children will find it disturbing. It
doesn't shun reality for general
audience appeal. If you've lived in
the South, and can remember the
Depression, you will know how true
it is. There isn't a false note. Under
Martin Ritt's direction this has be-
come a film for all people.
Butterflies Are Free {PC) — That rare
thing, a film comedy that sends you
away from the theater feeling good.
It is about a blind young man who
has left home and taken his own
apartment to get away from a
domineering mother. He and a
bouncy young neighbor have a brief
affair, which his mother manages to
break up, but in the end the girl re-
turns to him. Although the young
man, played by Edward Albert, is
blind, the real theme of this picture
is relationships. It starts out as a
comedy, gets heavy as the contest
between the mother and the girl in-
tensifies, and then becomes light
again at the end. Excellent perform-
ances by Edward Albert, Eileen
Heckart as his mother, and Goldie
Hawn as the girl provide the lift that
makes this picture special.
The Candidate (PC)— Robert Red-
ford gives a fine performance as a
liberal political novice who wins an
upset victory over a veteran California
senator, but whose ideals take a beal
ing in the political process. This is the
kind of expertly made picture you
sometimes think film studios have
stopped making. — Helen Johnson
Beautifully handcrafted, miniature, musi-
cal church that is an ideal gift for
Christmas or any occasion. A choice of
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Baked, white enamel finish highlights the
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Beautifully gift boxed — SI 2.90 postage
paid (Please indicate music desired).
Send your order to Bruce Company, 4363
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HIIR
Jottings
Unless you are a brand-new
reader, you may already have noticed
three new department headings in
this issue:
Say It!
You Asked . . .
and Kaleidoscope.
Although it has been necessary —
due to certain economic facts of life
— to reduce the number of pages in
this and future issues of Together,
two of our new departments will give
readers an even greater opportunity
to contribute to the magazine.
Say It! means exactly what it
"says." It is a safety valve, so to
speak, for letters that don't exactly
fit into our regular Letters department,
which is being retained. If you have
something you want to get off your
chest, something you would like to
lament or praise, a new idea, some-
thing not necessarily related to the
magazine's content, something you
have been holding back — well, come
right out and Say It!
A word of caution, however: make
your Say It! letters as brief as possible
because we hope to print several in
each issue.
As for You Asked . . . this new
department actually enlarges the
scope of our popular Your Faith and
Teens features. We hopefully antici-
pate some interesting — and difficult
STAFF
Acting Editorial Director and Editor:
Curtis A . Chamber*
Managing Editor: Paige Carlin
Associate Editors: Herman B. Teeter,
Helen Johnson, Ira M. Mohler,
Mariha A. lane, James F. Campbell,
Patricia Atzal
Art Editor: Robert C. Goss
Picture Editor: George P. Miller
News Editor: John A. Lovelace
Assistants: Sandra Leneau (production),
Lynda Campo (news)
Contributing Editors: James S. Thomas,
Dale White
Business-Circulation Manager: Warren P. Clark
Advertising Manager: John H. Fisher
Promotion Manager: Lewis G. Akin
Fulfillment Manager: Jack I. Inman
Publisher: John E. Procter
— questions from our readers. What
do you want to know about family
problems, your church, your faith,
even religions other than Christianity?
For the answers, we will continue to
feature Dr. Dale White, Bishop
James S. Thomas, and other leading
authorities in the fields involved.
Kaleidoscope recognizes the com-
munications revolution by combining
sections formerly devoted to books,
television, and films — adding new
elements from the arts and leisure-
time activities. As Helen Johnson
points out in her first column [page
45], we will be taking a look at a
variety of media from time to time.
Books, however, will probably remain
a major topic in Kaleidoscope. We
believe in books and think they will
be around a long time, television to
the contrary. (We read somewhere
recently that the prophets of doom
thought books would pass from the
scene when the bicycle was invented!)
Having something to say, and not
minding saying it, is Mrs. Margaret
Haun, author of Is Anyone There?
[page 17]. The mother of two sons
and a daughter, grandmother of 11,
she lists her hobbies as writing,
gardening, and rug-making. Although
many years removed from the "re-
bellious generation," Mrs. Haun indi-
cates that she can be something of
a rebel herself. She tells us that her
"rustic little redwood home" at Santa
Cruz, Calif., "has always epitomized
my early day rebellion against the
plastic environment."
Anyway, Mrs. Haun tells us, she
once rashly offered to demonstrate
her ideas of shibui, the Japanese art
of appreciation. Among the things
she displayed were a reed mat, a
small wood breadboard, a heavy
metal spoon made by the blind, a
pottery ash tray which became —
upside down — the base for a can-
dle, and many baskets.
Everything went off so well, Mrs.
Haun said, that it "proved once again
to me that one should endeavor al-
ways to keep that 'growing edge'
alive by once in a while attempting
something different."
And speaking of "something
different," it would be hard to
beat the experience of Stanley
Medders who wrote A Wonderful
Moment to Share [page 42]. It hap-
pened when he took his first teaching
job at a small town in California —
and was named coach of the base-
ball team.
"Never having even played base-
ball," he says, "I was at a complete
loss on how to proceed in my coach-
ing duties. My biggest worry was my;
'loss of face' when the team learned
I knew absolutely nothing about base-i
ball."
As it happened, Mr. Medder's team
won every game they played, includ-
ing the league championship!
Let Mr. Medders finish the story:
"As they carried me off the field
after their final
win, the captain
of the team
looked up at me
and grinned:
'There's only one
favor we'd like
to ask of you, Mr.
Medders. If you
coach us again
next year, would
you please not come to the league
games dressed in your suit and tie\' "
If you know more about tapestry
art than we do, you will understand
what one writer meant in commenting
on the work of John Coburn, the art-
ist whose designs illustrate Seven
Days of Creation on pages 2-5.
"John Coburn has developed a
firm, flat-surface style built upon
simple organic forms about which
sonorous colours glow and play," ac-
cording to one Australian commenta-
tor. "His work owes something to
Manessier and Pre-Colombian art;
and he is one of the very few painters
in Sydney who has succeeded in en-
dowing non-figurative work with
genuine religious feeling."
Mr. Coburn has participated in
many one-man shows and group ex-
hibitions, has taught in the National
Art School at Sydney, and at the
Technical College, Canberra. He was
awarded the Blake Prize for Religious
Art in 1960 and the Maitland Prize
in 1966.
We must assume, since she wrote
the poem inside this month's cover,
that autumn is one of Audrey B.
Murdock's favorite seasons. We don't
have to assume the same thing for
Douglas Pitts, Jr., who took the
accompanying color picture. He
comes right out and says "fall is my
favorite season."
Mr. Pitts has many autumn pictures
in his files — not to mention others
depicting spring, summer, and winter
scenes. "Camping has always been a
big thing in our family," he says,
"and most of my pictures were made
on family camping trips." New
Mexico, it seems, is one of his favorite
scenic states, and golden aspens
growing near Santa Fe were willing
subjects for his autumn picture in this
issue. — Your Editors
48
November 1972 TOGETHER
ROUND
Racing with the months that hold
Snow and ice and storm and cold,
Lessened day and longer dark,
Autumn turns its final arc.
Now potatoes are brought in,
Freezer rilled and shelves and bin.
Earth, the Worker, from her keep
Has given gifts — and asks now, sleep.
— Virginia Scott Miner
Nnvi-mhir 197? TOf.FTHFR
Norman Rockwell conveyed the spirit of Thanks-
giving in a family portrait showing heads bowed in
the solemn spirit of prayer— thirty years ago.
Today we have no less to be thankful for and
expressions of renewed faith and gratitude to God
are just as numerous. But the scene has changed.
Like Thanksgiving, TOGETHER magazine has
changed with the times. It keeps up with its
growing readership in feature stories on United
Methodists from around the globe; interesting
articles on everything from "Men of God in the
Military" to "How Christ Really Looked";
beautiful art and photography showing people
living and witnessing their faith in diverse settings
—from circus tents to the rugged Teton Mountains
of Wyoming; and readers don't hesitate to get theii
views across in "Letters to the Editors." Share
TOGETHER this Thanksgiving and enjoy the feast
of reading material it brings to you!
See your TOGETHER agent or pastor!
Subscriptions are $4 per year if sent through the
church and $6 if sent directly to TOGETHER
offices.
Thanksgivin
can bring yo
igeth'
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Nashville. Tennessee 3720!
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